Fallen Alliance
by AvA-181
Summary: Chapter 6 is now up! Sequil to The Return, and third addition to the Great Alliance Sagas.
1. On a Morning Like This

_Authors Note:  First off, this is a sequil.  If you haven't read 'The Return'  then I suggest you do, or you will be completely lost. __J  Secondly, I don't own Shadow Raiders…cuz if I did they would be in their 5th season by now.  I do, however, own all other characters.  Don't mind if you use them in your Fanfiction, if you contact me first by email.  Also want to thank everyone who is reading my series.  _

Chapter 1: 

The weeks following the funeral of Empress Zera were a most uncertain time for the entire Alliance.  The frailty of Ice's people in their state of chaos had everyone on edge.  Soon, they would have to make a choice as to who would replace Zera on the throne.  None, however, seemed ready to make there desire for the throne known.  For most, it was simply to early.  For others, they had no inclination that they might be worthy for such a role.  And for others, their plans of domination were slowly working their way into the palace.  

"Something must be done."  Jaren sighed heavily as he sat across from Shard in the council chambers.  "Our people are so lost.  They need direction."

"I agree."  Shard nodded in thought.  "It would be best to announce a new leader as soon as possible."

"But who?"  General Gala looked between Jaren and Shard for a moment.  "It would have to be someone that we know our people would approve of, someone that they will feel able to look up to for guidance, and someone they can place their trust in again."

"Indeed."  Shard nodded again. "Who do you think fits those qualities?"

"Well…"  Jaren began, but stopped and looked up at General Gala.

"No, I don't think I should lead again."  General Gala shook his head.  "It was only a temporary thing before, a favor I did for King Cryos.  I don't think I have the right to  carry the crown permanently.  I am much to old for that now." 

"I agree."  Jaren smirked at Gala and almost laughed at the relieved look that appeared on his face.  "I was actually thinking about your daughter."

"Crystal?"  General Gala blinked, the look of relief quickly dissipating. 

"The Empress's attendant?"  Shard finally took interest in the conversation, having hoped that Jaren would openly nominate him for the position.  "Surely not."

"Why not?"  Gala looked over at Shard in an insulted tone.

"Well I just mean…"  Shard realized his error in wording.  "What would the people think about this?"

"Actually, I have heard the people speak highly of her."  Jaren continued.  "Especially after the way she handled the funeral ceremony.   She had very strong bond with the Empress, and I think our people would appreciate that in their new ruler."

"Well, you make a valid point."  Gala scratched his chin as he thought.  "I don't know how she would feel about it though.  She has never been one to like having the focus on her."

"That is true."  Jaren replied.  "But I think she would do it.  Her sense of duty to her people is strong.  Don't you agree, Council?"

"Yes."  Shard spoke curtly.  "Well, Gala, why don't you discuss it with her, and I will think over it some more.  We shouldn't rush into a hasty decision." 

"Agreed."  Gala nodded.  "I will discuss it with her."

"I'll come with you, if you wouldn't mind."  Jaren stood from his seat. 

"No, not at all."  Gala smiled at the young officer before turning to Shard.  "I will let you know as soon as she makes a decision."

"Very well."  Shard watched as the two bowed and exited the room.  His calm face twisted into an angry glare.  That troublesome girl and her fool of a father were standing in his way to the throne.  Even Jaren was backing them, and he would need Jaren's support and that of the royal guard if his plan was to work.  As he thought about his predicament, a sinister grin started to curl the ends of his lips.  What could be better than ending both of his problems in one swift movement?  A deep laugh began to echo through his chest as his arrogance reviled in his clever mind's plot.  He quickly turned on his communicator.  "Sector 3, encryption level 5, communicator Delta 303."

"This had better be good news."  Jewlia snarled as she glared at Shard over the communicator.  

"Indeed it is."  Shard waited for the image to clear a bit before continuing.  The look on Jewlia's face was priceless.  She had no idea.  "Tekkla has been dealt with.  You are free to come back to the palace and stay here.  I will find a way to solve any other problems concerning your freedom."

"Tekkla has been dealt with?"  Jewlia eyed Shard suspiciously.  "What do you mean, dealt with?"

"What do you think?"  Shard said impatiently.  "Look, I have important things to take care off.  You can either accept my offer of help or rot in the back allies for the rest of your life.  Your choice, my dear."

"Fine."  Jewlia glared.  She figured he was up to something, and if he was she would enjoy the chance to pay him back for all the shitty nights she had in the past month thanks to his screw up.  "Just tell me where to meet you."

"As you wish, My dear."  Shard offered her a warm smile as his insides coiled with dark excitement.  "A ship will pick you up.  I will tell the pilot that you are a vagrant in need of shelter."

"Thanks."  Jewlia huffed, highly unimpressed with the title of vagrant.

"No problem at all."  Shard grinned at her.  "See you soon, my dear."

"Ya ya." Jewlia hated the way he talked to her.  She closed the com-line after one last warning glare in his direction.

 Shard smiled to himself and stood up from his desk to go to the medical lab. "Now, to take care of Tekkla." 

******

"How are you holding up?"  Graveheart gave Jade a small smile as he wrapped his arms around her.  The morning light streamed into the large stone room  through a large window as Jade stood in front of it and looked out onto the busy city below.   Life seemed to be back to normal on planet Rock.  Transport ships zipped by her window too and from the mines and the supply docks.  Venders in the street below called out their offers.  Mothers walked through the market place with their children in tow.  A rock sparrow sang its tranquil melody into the echoing carapace of the stone valley as it flew overhead.  When Jade didn't answer, Graveheart nuzzled his cheek against hers.  "Jade?"

"Hmm?"  Jade took her eyes off of the morning scene below with a small sigh.  "I'm fine."  

"Sure?"  Graveheart raised an eyebrow at her distant tone.  

"Don't you know better than to question your queen?"  Jade turned around to face him and the distance of her voice disappeared.  She smiled up at him for a moment, simply enjoying his company.  Since the funeral, he had been constantly at her side.  It was just like the old days, and she couldn't tell him enough how good it felt or how much she really needed him to be there.  

"No, cant say that I do."  Graveheart laughed.  "Still on for lunch today?"

"Count on it."  Jade smirked.  A beeping from the com unit on her desk grabbed her attention.  She walked over to it and pushed the button, angry for the interruption.  "Yes?"

"Forgive the intrusion, your Highness."  A male voice on the other end replied.  "But there is a solder from Squad 18 of the Prison District who says its urgent that he speak with you."

"Very well."  Jade sighed as she took her crown off of the table and put it back on her head.  "Send him in."

"Squad 18."  Graveheart thought for a moment as Jade turned off the com unit.  "Why does that sound familure?"

"I know what you mean."  Jade furrowed her brow.  "Some how I think our lunch date has been canceled."

"Your Highness."  The broad shouldered soldier of Rock stepped into the chamber and bowed.  

"How can I help you?"  Jade eyed the man for a moment as she continued to try and remember why his squad number seemed so familure.

"I am afraid I have to report some unsettling news, my Queen."  The soldier stood up and removed his helmet.  The black lines of his face gleamed like sapphires, and his lips were etched into a deep frown.  As he lifted his eyes to Jade, it finally hit here why he seemed so familure.

"Captain Onyx?" Jade blinked.  

"I am honored you remember me, my Queen."  Onyx bowed his head again.

"You're the one who took Jewlia into custody and…"  Graveheart cut off his words and let out a large sigh.  "What has she done now?"

"She has killed two of my men, Ambassador."  Onyx stated grimly.  

"What!"  Jade blinked.  "Well I'll see to it that she pays for it."

"I am sure that you would."  Onyx frowned.  "If we knew where she was."

"She's escaped?"  Graveheart's blue eyes went wide.  "When?"

"Of that we aren't to sure." Onyx lowered his head in shame.  "Our units do shift changes on four week intervals.  Four weeks in the cell block, four weeks at home with the family.  It happened sometime before the attack by the Beast Planet, we know that for sure.  We think it happened right after the shift change.  The men looked like they had been dead for weeks.  We usually have them report on a daily basis, but with all that has been going on…the lieutenant in charge while I was with the attack squadron…he.." Onyx shook his head and refused to put blame on the inexperienced soldier."  I'm not going to make excuses, my Queen.  It was my squad and I am responsible for their actions. I have failed you."

"That is something we will discuss later."  Jade gave him a look to show that she didn't hold him responsible at all.  He simply nodded his acknowledgment.  "Have you told anyone else?"

"No, my Queen."  Onyx replied.  "I was going to tell the families of the two men after I had discussed the matter with you."

"I wont keep you from that."  Jade replied, knowing what a grim task it would be telling the families.  "Take them my blessing and tell them that if there is anything they need that they only need to let me know.  Graveheart and I will deal with Jewlia."

"My great thanks, your Highness."  Onyx looked up with a sadness in his eyes.  "Officer Targe had a wife and two kids, and Officer Corik had a wife who is expecting their first child next month.  Do me a favor, my Queen. Tell Jewlia that when you catch her, whether she cares or not."

"I promise."  Jade nodded to the man as he bowed and departed.  After he had left the room, she turned to Graveheart.  "And this time when we catch her, I'll be damned if I let her go again…alive."

******

"Hello, my dear."  Shard eyed Tekkla's still form through the frosted glass of her containment unit as his fingers slid across the cold surface.  "And how are we feeling today?"  He laughed quietly to himself as he watched her for a long moment.  His eyes trailed off of her body and down to the dimly lit control panel on the side of the containment unit.  The panel beeped in response to his finger movements as he changed the environmental settings.  Slowly, his eyes trailed back up along her body as his hand left the control panel.  He joined the stillness of the room as he watched her and waited for it to end.  With another beep from the panel, it was over.  Shard watched as Tekkla's chest began to rise and fall on its own, her weeks of isolated slumber at an end.  

"Welcome back to the world of the living, my dear.  Soon you will make all my problems disappear."  Shard smirked darkly at her before turning and heading quickly out the door.  He waited for a moment before turning around the corner and entering the medical lab.  "Has there been any change in Princess Tekkla's condition?" 

"No sir." Tal looked up from his work on Voxx.  Without Tekkla's knowledge, repairing Voxx had been an unending challenge.  "I checked on her last night, and she was still the same that she has been for the past four weeks, I'm afraid."

"Well, will you do an old man a favor and check on her again."  Shard gave Tal a large smile.  "It's a beautiful morning, and I just have a good feeling about it.  I am probably being a sentimental fool, but…"

"No, not at all sir."  Tal stood up and returned the smile.  "It is nice of you to care so much about her.  You check on her everyday as if she were your own daughter.  I'd be glad to check on her again, and I hope that I have good news for you this time."

"As do I, Tal."  Shard continued to plaster the huge smile of a caring old man onto his face as Tal left the room.  

******

"Crystal?"  General Gala walked onto the balcony of their palace apartment.  Crystal stood there silently, leaning on the railing with her eyes looking out to the early morning light as it rose over the tops of the Freeznor mountains.  A calm and regal visage had come over her in the time following the funeral, and Gala had not failed to notice how so very much Crystal had come to resemble her mother.  Strong, wise, and proud of her duty.  Gala had also not failed to notice the look of being lost that sometimes entered into his daughters silvery eyes.  She was without a clear duty now that Zera was gone.  Her future was unsure.  Gala breathed in a deep breath, knowing that he was about to complicate things for her even more.  As she turned to his voice with a beautiful smile on her lips, he remembered how much he only wanted to see her smile like that forever. 

"Hello, father."  Crystal turned her eyes back over to the horizon.  "It is a beautiful morning, is it not?"

"Indeed it is."  Gala smiled warmly to her as he came up beside her and looked out over the mineral ice plains.   After enjoying the pleasant and soothing silence for a moment, he turned back to his daughter.  "We need to speak to you about something."

"We?"  Crystal turned to her father with a puzzled look on her face.  It was then that she noticed Jaren standing in the door way.  She greeted him with loving smile.

"Hello, Crystal."  Jaren smiled softly in return as he approached her and Gala on the balcony.  

"What is it?"  Crystal turned back to her father, extremely curious as to what he and Jaren could possible have to discuss with her at the same time.  

"The Council Shard has decided that it is time for planet Ice to have a new leader."  General Gala kept his eyes out into the distance.  "He feels it will help them to better get on with their lives."

"I agree."  Crystal nodded slowly.  "They are a lost people.  They need guidance." 

"Exactly."  Jaren placed a hand on Crystal's shoulder to get her to look at him. Her tall figure matched his own so that when she turned her silver eyes to him, they faced him strait on.  He paused for a moment in there stare, never before taking the time to truly look into them.  "And…and well, your father and I feel that perhaps the person that next leads the people should be you."

"What?"  Crystal wasn't sure how to respond.  Her eyes shifted down from his as she shook her head.  "Certainly not.  I am no leader." 

"Are you so sure of that, my daughter."  Gala waited for her to look at him.  "You and the Empress were inseparable for most of your lives.  They relate to you in that way.  After the way in which you spoke at the funeral, many see that you are strong and capable of leadership."

"But father.."  Crystal began to protest.  Her mind swam with the implications of what they were asking of her.  

"You know he is right, Crystal."  Jaren brought her attention back to his eyes.  "The people need someone familure right now, someone they can place their trust in.  The best person that fits that description is you."

"What about you, father."  Crystal was still grasping for a way out of it.  "You have led before, surely the people would want you to lead again."

"Crystal, look at me."  Gala sighed in a soft smile.  "I'm an old man.  They need someone young, who will be around for a while yet.  They need someone one to give them a sense of security and stability again."  

"If you don't take the crown, Crystal, I have a feeling that Shard is going to try."  Jaren knew that would get her attention.

"Shard?"  Crystal turned her eyes back to Jaren's in surprise.  

"Yes."  Jaren nodded as he grasped both of her shoulders.  "Do you truly want a man like him sitting on the throne?"

"No, I do not."  Crystal lowered her eyes in defeat.  She would rather die than have that frost bitten ice flea on the throne.  The words he said on that day, _"Perhaps it is better this way" _  leaving the Empress to die alone on the ice plains, still haunted her and filled her heart with a growing hate for the man.  At least she had tried to stop Zera.  As her thoughts turned to Zera, a new resolve welled up inside of her.  She knew that the last thing Zera would have wanted would be for Shard to wear the Crown of Ice.  She looked back up into Jaren's eyes with a determined stare.  "I will do it." 

"I knew we could count on you."  Jaren smiled warmly at her and gave her shoulders a gentle squeeze.  The two paused for a moment in each others eyes.  

"Always."  Crystal retuned the smile, wondering if Jaren knew how long she had wished him to look at her the way he was in that very moment.  

"I am very proud of you, daughter."  Gala looked at his daughter with great pride and admiration.    "I will go tell Shard of your decision."

"I will stay here for a moment, if you do not mind."  Jaren turned to Gala.

"No, of course not."  Gala smiled at the two of them before turning to leave.

"Well, I hope I know what I am getting myself into."  Crystal's laugh hung softly in the air as she turned her eyes back to the mountain range.  

"You'll do fine."  Jaren replaced his hands on her shoulders to reassure her.

"You'll be there to help me, wont you?"  Crystal spoke without turning to face him.  Her thoughts were distant and dreamy.

"Always."  Jaren smiled and looked at her as she kept her face to the horizon.  With an uncertain hesitation, he gently wrapped his arms around her and placed his head on her shoulder, his eyes now looking out onto the horizon with her.  The morning was indeed a beautiful one.  Zera loved mornings like this one.  A small smile came across Jaren's face as he realized that the thought of that didn't hurt as much as it had a week ago.  As he felt Crystal's arms slowly wrap around his own, he marveled at how things had changed, and how suddenly their future didn't seem so dim. 

*****

"Council Shard!"  Tal ran back into the med-lab with a look of happy shock on his face.  "By the Great Glacier!  You were right!  Tekla is starting to regain consciousness!" 

"Wonderful news!"  Shard put on his best look of surprise and elation.  "I must go tell everyone.  They will certainly be happy.  Please let me know when she regains full consciousness.  I wish to see if she remembers what dreadfully traitorous creature attacked her."

"Of course, Council."  Tal bowed and then dashed back off to Tekla's medical chamber.  

"Let the games begin."  Shard chuckled quietly to himself before heading off to his office to check on Jewlia's arrival status.  

*****


	2. The Awakening

            Emperor Sternum walked vigorously down the corridor of the Bone's towering citadel on his way to the large ship hanger in the east wing.  His jaw was set tight in a looming growl of anger.  Guards and servants hurried out of his way as he swept past them without acknowledgment.  Thrusting open the huge doors to the hanger, he walked inside and headed strait for the command ship Tul.  His menacing growl grew as he took note of the ship's less than space-worthy condition.  The engine compartment was in pieces on the floor.  Swinging around to the nearest technician and grabbing him off the floor by the collar, and he set his anger free on the unsuspecting man.  "What in the blazes of Fire is going on?  I need that ship!  Now!" 

"I am sorry, my Emperor!"  The technician replied with a hard swallow.  His squat form became still in Sternum's grasp.  "But after the battle with the Beast, we've had a hell of a time getting her fixed!"

"What's going on?"  Tibia's voice vibrated over the large hanger bay.  Sternum may be the Emperor, but no one bullied her technicians.  She walked over to his towering form with a strong stride, her fists clinched at her sides.  Her red eyes narrowed as she got closer.

"I need a ship, now."  Sternum said as he dropped the technician to the floor and turned to meet Tibia's heated glare. 

"Well you're not gonna be able to beat one out of him."  Tibia huffed.  She turned to the man and pointed over her shoulder.  "Go ahead and get back to work, Larynx,  number four thruster on the Cargth still aint firing." 

"Yes, Ma'am."  Larynx quickly got to his feet and saluted.  He gave a timid bow to Sternum before rushing off to the Cargth, one of Bone's many supply transport ships that was on its last years of operation.  

Tibia turned her daring glare back to Sternum.  Her bad day of trying to repair Bone's decrepit fleet after the battler was wearing her nerves and tolerance levels thin.  She sighed and took the glare out of her eyes, trying to calm her spirit.  "Now, are you gonna tell me what's got your tail in such a twist?"  

"She's escaped."  He said bluntly as he eyed the rest of the ships in the hanger.

"Who?"  Tibia raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms.  "Ex-girlfriend of yours?"

"Your levity is not helping this matter."  Sternum's expression took the smile off of Tibia's face.

"Sorry, darlin."  Tibia sighed.  

"It's Jewlia."  Sternum continued.  "She killed two Rock guards and has escaped her prison cell."

"What?"  Tibia nearly choked.  "That she-devil is on the loose?  How long?"

"They aren't sure."  Sternum sighed.  "But I have to find her before she does something else."

"Where are you going to look?"  Tibia shook her head.  "She could be halfway across the galaxy by now!"  

"I doubt it.  I know how she thinks.  She has unsettled issues here."

"You mean you think she's gonna be come'n after your hide?"  Tibia raised an eyebrow.

Sternum looked at Tibia and a dark smirk appeared on his lips.  "That is what I am hopping for."

"Why am I not surprised."  Tibia crossed her arms with a small smile.  She looked over her shoulder at her ship.  The mid sized attack ship was just about the only one in the hanger that still looked halfway decent.  Its red metallic surface gleamed like the red of Tibia's eyes.  She turned back to Sternum.    "Well my ship is almost ready to go."

"Very well."  Sternum nodded.  

Tibia looked back over her shoulder and peered at the engine compartment of her ship. The hood of the compartment sat halfway open with someone working underneath.  "Hey Una!"

Una raised her head quickly at being called, bumping it hard onto the half open hood. "Shit!"  She looked out of the compartment, rubbing her head with an annoyed voice. "What!?"

"You gotta quit doing that honey."  Tibia laughed and waved Una over.  

"Tell me something I don't know."  Una smirked and grabbed a rag off of the edge of the compartment.  She hopped down the ladder as she wiped the engine grease off of one of her wrenches and then her hands.  Una was a tall statured and strong woman of Bone, with eyes of yellow stars.  The four short light green fins of her head came up in a bob at the bottom of her ears, two fins ran from between her shoulder blades down to the small of her back, and another single fin ran the length of her tail.  Her thin but well sculptured form flexed with each step she took on her clawed feet toward Tibia.  The slick back of her attire, a single piece that ran from behind the neck, down over her chest, and into a short double slitted skirt that covered cropped yellow shorts, matched the slick of the grease that she wiped from her hands.  Her yellow eyes widened as she caught site of Sternum.  Quickly tossing the rag and wrench aside, she gave a small bow and salute of honor.  "Emperor." 

"Sternum, this is Una."  Tibia wondered if he'd remember.

"Una…"  Sternum thought for a minute.  "Wait, little Una?  General Glex's daughter?"

"Ya, terror of the palace!"  Tibia laughed.  

"I was five!"  Una raised her eyes to Tibia and slapped her on the shoulder.  After a few long laughs, she turned back to Sternum and bowed her head again.  "I was happy to hear of your return.  My father always favored you.  I meant to come pay my respects sooner, but I've been on the outskirts of the cluster for a few years." 

"Only one who could keep those hunks of junk supply ships running."  Tibia smirked.  "Can you finish up on my ship, the Emperor here needs a lift." 

"As soon as I find my brother."  Una narrowed her eyes to two angry yellow slits. "He was supposed to have been back with that R812 module half an hour ago." 

"Well, knowing Ulnae, he got lost in the supply bay."  Tibia sighed a small chuckle.

"I'll go find him, and then you can be on your way."  Una bowed again to Sternum and gave one last punch on the shoulder to Tibia before trotting off to find Ulnae.   

"She really was quite a terror when she was younger."  Sternum looked to Tibia who laughed.  "And as I remember it, you were the ring leader in the trouble."  

"Who says I'm still not?"  Tibia started to laugh even more. 

"Whew!"  Femur came trotting up to the two, completely out of breath.  "There you two are!  I…I've…"

"Spit it out."  Sternum looked down at Femur who was fighting to catch his breath. 

 Femur found the breath to give a smile and a wink to Tibia. "Heya doll."  A small growl from Sternum brought his attention back to the news he was carrying.  "Just got word.  Tekla's awake!"  

"Well, that is certainly good news!"  Tibia smiled. 

"Has she said who attacked her yet?"  Sternum responded with about as much enthusiasm as Femur had expected. 

"Not yet, but I was going to head over."  Femur responded, then looked at the devastated state of the Tul.  He looked back to Tibia with a grin.  "Can you give me a lift, toots?"

"You bet, darl'n."  She looked up at Sternum.  "You coming?  Or do you wish to yell at my technicians some more?"

"Depends on if Ulnae got that module."  Sternum shook his head with a laugh and walked onto the Zenith.  Leave it to old friends for getting him out of a bad mood.

"Hu?"  Femur raised an eyebrow. 

"C'mon."  Tibia gave Femur a small kiss on the cheek before walking off to her ship, the Zenith.  "The Emperor is waiting." 

"Yes Ma'am!"  Femur grinned widely and trotted after her.

            Una soon joined the group on the bridge of the ship.  She gave Tibia the all clear to take off before taking her position at the tactical station.  Ulnae was soon to follow, giving a small apology to Tibia and Sternum.  He walked past Una, avoiding the anger in her eyes, as he made his way to his station at Ops.  The Zenith lifted from the hanger bay floor and headed out of the large yellow doors in the ceiling.   It rose silently above the foggy mists that hovered over most of Bone's mossy green surface and through the afternoon haze.  A small pocket of turbulence rocked the ship as it began its assent out of the planet's atmosphere.  Tibia smoothly glided the ship the rest of the way, and with one final tug from the planet, the Zenith was free from the gravitational forces.  Heading out into the darkness of space, Tibia hung a left and engaged the large propulsion unit.  It fired into life and the ship began its trek toward Planet Ice.  As they passed by Rock, Tibia noticed the Ca'rn ascending from the planet's atmosphere.  

"Look."  Tibia pointed out of the side window toward the Rock flagship.  

"Huh."  Femur huffed.  "If they're using the flagship, then Jade must be with 'em for once."

"I bet she argued all the way to the hanger."  Tibia laughed.  "She hates that slow clunker of a ship."

Sternum eyed the ship as it broke free of Rock's gravity.  "Pull along side them, Tibia."  

Tibia nodded a smirk and pulled along side the Ca'rn.  Its enormous size made the Zenith look like a mistfly on a bone-wraith's back.   The sandstone colored ship slowed as the small green and red Zenith made its approach.  "Well 'ello there!  Mind if we tag along?"

"Hello, Tibia."  Graveheart smiled as his face appeared over the com line.

"I take it her highness is with you."  Femur laughed. 

"Problem with that, toad?"  Jade's voice replied.

"Not at all toots."  Femur laughed.  The two ships traveled past the battle moon where the Fire palace now resided.  "You guys heard anything from Pyrus?"

"No."  Graveheart sighed.  "I gave the message to Ash though."

"Well speak of the devil."  Tibia whistled as the Ithri, Fire's flagship, joined them in the space above the battle moon.  

"But is he with them?"  Sternum commented.  

"This is Captain Ash to the Ca'rn and the Zenith."  Ash's voice entered the com line.

"Hey!"  Femur greeted her.  "How's it goin, doll?"

Jade took over the com.  "Quiet toad.  Is King Pyrus with you?"  

"I am."  Pyrus's voice broke over the com.  

"Good to see you."  Graveheart replied as Pyrus's face joined the faces of the others on the com's view screen.  It was hard and emotionless, except for the dark circles around his eyes that owed their existence to many sleepless nights.  

"You too."  Pyrus did his best to force a smile onto his face with little success.  "I'm sorry for being so…distant."

"Its ok, kid."  Femur offered a smile.  "Though didn't expect to have you com'n to Ice with us."

"I want to be there when Tekla announces the attacker."  Pyrus's eyes began to burn with a deep seeded anger.  "That same person is responsible for the deception, and responsible for Zer…"  he took a slight pause to force his tight breath over his vocal chords.  "For Zera's death." 

"Agreed."  Jade nodded, the sudden memory of Zera bringing a stinging pain to her heart. 

"Ash just finished telling me about Jewlia as well."

Sternum looked at the melancholy prince of Fire and decided it was time to voice his suspicion.  "I have a feeling that the two problems are one in the same."

"You think Jewlia is responsible for Tekla?"  Tibia blinked.  "Do you think she is capable of  something like that?  Of making deals with the Beast?"

Sternum clasped his hands as a dark scowl came over his face.  "When it is to her benefit, Jewlia is capable of anything."

*****

            Jewlia sat in the back cargo hold of the tiny Ice ship, its two young pilots chattering to each other in the cockpit.  Under Shard's orders, they hadn't asked the strange vagrant any questions when they picked her up.  She, in turn, said nothing to them.  Not even a thank-you.  With her face hooded, she crept closer to the light of the cockpit that shown  through the half-open door into the dim cargo hold.  Her finger's twisted around a blue cargo net to keep it from making nose as it banged against a large crate of food supplies from planet Bone.  As it quieted, the two voices of the male pilots could be heard clearly.

"You're kidding!"  Javis laughed heartily.  

"Nope."  Kale replied.  "And then she had the nerve to ask if I would still put in a good word for her at the palace."

"Ice women!"  Javis chuckled and slapped Kale on the shoulder.  Behind the shroud, Jewlia's eyes narrowed.  

Kale started to laugh.  "Ya, you cant live with 'em, and you sure as hell can't trade them off to the other planets!" 

"No kidding!"  Javis snorted.  "If only our women were less talk and more action."

"Like those gals from Rock.  Now they now how to have a good time."  Kale nodded.  "Hey, remember that time at Moon over Mayhem when that Rock gal…"  

A message coming into the ship's com-unit interrupted Kale's story, much to Jewlia's delight.  "Hey…hey Kale?…Yo, Javis, you read me?"

Kale pressed a couple of buttons to clear up the message.  "Hey Tay'n, what's up?"

The face of Tay'n, a Rock soldier the same young age as Kale and Javis, slowly appeared onto the tiny view screen through a haze of static.  Jewlia inched closer to the cockpit to get a better look.  

"Hey!"  Tay'n grinned.  "Where are you guys?"

"If we told you that we'd have to kill you."  Javis smirked. 

"We're running one of those secretive, off the log books, type of missions for ole Frost Butt again."  Kale replied with a snicker.

"I hope Shard is paying you good, cuz you're going to miss one hell of a party."  Tay'n laughed.  "A bunch of us are heading over to The Cell Block, thought you might want to join us."

            The Cell Block.  Jewlia had heard a little about it from the casual conversations of those guarding her prison cell over the years.  It was supposed to be a bar on the outskirts of the cluster that sprung up after those from the Prison planet were released of all charges for saving the cluster from the Beast.  They'd gotten too used to living with the races side by side, and hated the segregation attitude of the Alliance that still existed at the time.  From what she understood, it was a place where authority or title meant absolutely nothing, and neither did what planet you were from.  From the talk in the cockpit, it seemed it had become quiet a popular place for their generation to hang out.  She smirked and brought her attention back up to the view screen as Tay'n started speaking again.

"Oh ya! Before I go, just thought you guys might like to hear the good news!"

"What, you finally found a blind girl who believes looks aren't everything?"  Kale smirked.

"Ha-ha-ha."  Tay'n rolled his eyes.  "No, it looks like Tekla is going to pull through!  She woke up this morning!"

_What! _ Jewlia nearly screamed.  Shard had promised her Tekla would be dead when she got there!  That double crossing insect was drawing her into a trap.  A dark smirk began to curl over her lips.  She would see just who was going to be double crossing who.

"Hey that's great news!"  Jarvis smiled.  "And we'll try to head by the Cell once we drop off this cargo."

"Alright!  Catch ya later, Ice fleas!"  Tay'n  saluted the two.

"Later, Rock hound."  The two saluted back and shut off the com. 

"Man, if I miss that party because of ole Frost Butt…"  Javis grumbled.

"Well then, I am sorry to have to disappoint you boys."  Jewlia stepped into the cockpit, flinging the heavy robe off of her body.  She smirked at them as their mouths opened wide.  With a swing of her hip and a wink, she pointed her gun and fired before the two young Ice soldiers new what or who had hit them.  "But I've got plans of my own."

*****

            The Ca'rn landed in the large cavernous ship bay of the Ice Palace, followed by the Ithri and the Zenith.  Graveheart, Jade, Pyrus, Sternum, and Femur stepped off of their ships and headed to the large crystal ice doors together.  As they reached them, the doors opened slowly and the group was met by a small Ice delegation.  Crystal, Jaren, and Gala walked up to greet them.

"Well, it is nice to have some good news for a change, yes?"  General Gala smiled after the formalities of greetings had been completed.  "If you will follow us, Tekla is starting to regain full consciousness now in our medical bay."

"Good."  Graveheart returned Gala's smile.  The group walked passed, Jaren and Crystal bowing to them and then following behind.   

Femur slowed his steps slightly to let Crystal and Jaren catch up to him.  He looked up at the two tall youths of Ice and whispered.  "I hear rumor that Shard is being favored for the throne, though I don't understand why."

"You and I both, Ambassador."  Jaren commented.  "He is a strong leader, but he is also old and highly conservative."

"That's for sure."  Femur huffed a laugh.  "Its no secret that he aint exactly fond of the rest of the planets in the cluster."

"True."  Jaren nodded.  "That is why a growing number of our people are choosing to back who I nominated." 

"Who's that?"  Femur cocked an eyebrow.  Jaren smiled and pointed at Crystal who slightly blushed a purple hue.  "Well now, that's more like it!" 

"Shh."  Crystal laughed lightly.  "It hasn't been formally announced yet."

"Ya, well."  Femur smiled wider.  "I know Zera would have much preferred you on the throne as apposed to Shard."

"I thank you for your confidence, Ambassador."  Crystal nodded with a fading smile.  A sudden memory of Zera surfaced, and she cast her eyes away.  "I can never hope to be the great leader she was, but I can try to carry on her fight to unite the people and the Alliance.  I can only hope that I do honor to her memory."  The soft smile returned to her face as Jaren reached over and took a hold of her hand.  He squeezed it gently in support.  She looked up as the group stepped onto one of the large lifts that ran down the center of the palace.  As soon as all the members were on, Gala pushed a button on the control and the lift glided smoothly to the lower levels of the palace.  It stopped with a small jolt and Gala led them down a long corridor to the medical bay.  

            Shard was waiting for them at the doors to the medical bay.  He put on his best appearance, and gave a curt bow to the group.  "I thank you for coming on such short notice.  Tekla is now awake and is looking forward to seeing you all."  His voice was smooth, and everyone in the delegation knew he was playing up to them in hopes for their support in his move for the throne.  "I have not told her about the Empress, however.  I felt that perhaps that is best left up to you."  Shard stepped aside and opened the doors.  

"Thank you."  Graveheart replied politely as he walked past the shrewd councilor.   Of the group, he was the only one to speak to Shard as they walked into the large cavernous medical lab.  Across a large bridge that spanned a deep ravine,  several technicians were leaned over various machines that beeped or clicked their readouts.  Over to the left lay the medical bed, once covered in a stasis pod.  Now Tekla lay on it covered in a silvery sheet with a surface sheen that moved in the light with each rise and fall of her breaths.  Tal, the chief Ice medic, stood at Tekla's bedside, asking her a few questions to try an determine her mental state.  It was not uncommon for off-worlders to experience a haze of memory after being awakened from a long sleep in a nanonyte chamber.  

"I have been working on Voxx night and day since the attack, but unfortunately he requires your technical skill."  Tal spoke in a soft voice.  Hearing the footsteps, he turned toward the group with a greeting bow and smile.  He turned back to Tekla with the same soft spoke voice.  "You have guests, your highness." 

"Thank you."  Tekla returned the smile and Tal left her side to usher the other technicians out of the room.  Her half open eyes turned lazily to the group, first focusing on Graveheart.   His large smile brought a warmth to her heart, despite the fact that is felt as if the nanonyte chamber had left her with an eternal chill.  Her voice was raspy and low. 

"Hello."

"Hi."  Graveheart walked closer to Tekla's bedside.  "You sure had us all worried there for a while."

"I apologize."  She smiled at everyone in the group, her eyes going to each in turn.  Turning their metallic orbs back to Graveheart, she closed them for a moment.  She knew something had been wrong the moment she awoke.  Everyone was walking on eggshells around her, and now Graveheart's eyes assured her that something serious had happened.  Taking note of everyone in the room in the clouded jumble of her mind, she realized that someone was missing.  Someone that she knew would be the first to be at her side when she had awakened.  Without opening her eyes, she took a deep breath in the tension filled silence of the room.   "Where is Zera?"

"Tekla…"  Graveheart began, not sure of how to proceed in light of her delicate health.  Tekla opened her eyes to look at him again, and he lost his will to tell her such horrible news.  Upset by everyone's silence, her eyes trailed from person to person, seeking an answer.  Her eyes immediately stopped when they reached Pyrus, his eyes lowered and full of a hollow longing for death.   

"Pyrus…"  The sadness in her throat rose as he turned his blue melancholic eyes to her.  "she is gone, isn't she…"  She watched with tears welling in her eyes as Pyrus slowly nodded in response.  A sobbing hiccup escaped her throat and she held her hand out to him.  He stepped forward and grasped it tightly, kneeling down at her bedside, holding the back of her hand to his forehead.  Tekla's other hand raised to her face as her body contorted in a massive release of emotion, each sob threatening to cut off her lungs from her next breath.   In between the thralls of her sorrow, she managed to utter one word.  "How?"

Knowing Pyrus was in no condition to speak, and Graveheart was on the verge of loosing his composure, Jade stepped forward.  "She died sacrificing herself to save her entire planet from the Beast."   

"The Beast planet?" Tekla's eyes shot open as a fearful memory of that word echoed though her body.  She tightened her grip on Pyrus's hand and turned her eyes to Jade.  "Please explain to me how this is possible." 

Shard listened closely from the back of the group as Jade told the story of Zera's heroic sacrifice.  He had to bite his tongue to keep from smirking as Jade told of the sabotage of planet Ice's sensory tower, and how the Beast planet had fooled the Alliance fleet into leaving the cluster in search of the 'ghost' ships.  He watched as each ghastly detail caused the princess of Tek to catch her breath in her throat and the king of Fire to close his eyes even tighter.  It had been an unexpected bonus to see that hot headed boy fall apart over Zera's death, unexpected in deed but welcomed non the less.  Having the king of Fire so weak would only help his future endeavors.  It was that foolish boy's own fault for having allowed himself to carry on such a disgusting love for the Empress of Ice.  The Gods only know what trouble he and that Ice brat would have caused had it not been stopped by Shard's cunning hands.  He had done both of their planets a favor.  Such a corrupt and unnatural thing could never be allowed to happen.  Shard had to break himself from these thoughts as he felt a pair of unwelcome eyes on him.  He turned to see Crystal casting a glare in his direction.  It was only then that he realized he had been unable to keep a small smirk from curling his frozen lips.  Shard returned the glare, removing the smirk from his mouth, and Crystal turned her eyes away.  It seemed she had been the only one to catch his small slip in character.  No matter.  That pitiful attendant, with her foolish dreams of wearing the crown, would soon be dealt with in a most befitting manner.  

"And we have no suspects for the sabotage."  Jade concluded.  "Which is why we were hoping you would remember who attacked you."

"Than you don't know."  Tekla's eyes narrowed as her mind placed all blame of Zera's death on the one who had attacked her.  "It was Jewlia."

"I knew it."  Sternum growled.  "That lecherous bitch will pay." 

"One thing I don't get though."  Femur scratched his head.  "I know Jewlia is far beyond helpless, but how did she manage to break free from prison, get onto a transport ship, infiltrate the Ice palace, and just happen to know how to interfere with a sensory tower that was only put into operation eight months ago?"

"Good point, brother."  Sternum nodded.

"It is obvious."  Shard finally stepped forward.  "She must have had someone here in the palace to aid her."

"Surely not!"  Jaren gasped at the thought.  "Who of our people would risk the life of the Empress Zera and the entire planet?"

"Who indeed."  Shard raised an eyebrow, not willing to put any names forward.  "Now that we know Jewlia's part, her accomplice should soon be found out."

"How will we find Jewlia?"  Pyrus stood up, finally letting go of Tekla's hand.  His eyes now carried the deep flame of a desired revenge. 

"Well, she doesn't have many places were she wouldn't be recognized."  Graveheart replied.  "I think that once we alert the public, it will only be a matter of time before she is found."

"Agreed."  Jade nodded. She turned to Tekla and patted her hand slightly.  "You get some rest.  We will need your strength."

"Thank you."  Tekla offered Jade a sad smile and her eyes closed.  

The group nodded to each other and quietly made their way out of the medical lab.  As they made their way back to the ship hanger, they discussed their plans for searching for Jewlia's whereabouts. Agreeing to oversee their own planet's search efforts, they decided to meet in three days time to estimate their progress.  With a small parting of words, they each stepped onto their ships and departed from the Ice palace.  Crystal and Jaren watched the ships leave the hanger with another wave good by before turning to their own discussion about who the traitor on their planet could possibly be.  Neither one of them was happy to believe that one of their own people could have had a hand in such devastation.  

Having heard enough from the two to discern that they weren't going to voice any names, Shard left the hanger in silence to check on the status of the ship that was running a most important mission for him.  Walking into his private chamber and locking the door behind him, he sat down at his desk and turned on his com unit.  His eyebrow raised as a message notice appeared on the screen, its encryption code matching the one he gave to Jewlia.  Perhaps the rock minded twit had missed her pick up.  This girl was beginning to be more trouble than she was worth.   With a long drawn out sigh, he lazily clicked the receive button.  A torrent of static filled the screen, and when it cleared Jewlia's face smiled back at Shard.  

"You've been a very naughty little insect."  Jewlia hissed at Shard through her smile.  The message continued to play back as Shard's jaw became ever more set in anger.  "I'm afraid, _my dear_, that I simply wont be able to make it to the palace after all.  I know how horribly disappointed you'll be, so I'm sending you a little present."  She held up the lifeless body of Javis.  "You should know better than to send a bunch of kids to do your dirty work, insect.  Imagine my surprise when I overheard the wonderful news that Tekla had miraculously risen from the state of death that you promised me she'd be in when I got there."  She dropped Javis to the floor of the cargo hold.  Her face became a contorted sneer of anger and pleasure.  "You do realize, of course, that I am going to hunt you down like the double crossing dog you are, and then I'm going to string you up by your entrails and watch you squirm when you people figure out that it was you who killed their beloved Ice Queen.  Until then, I would watch your back.  I'll be watching you."  Jewlia winked at him, raised her gun and fired, ending the camera's transmission.  

            Shard's eye twitched as his teeth ground together.  Things were no longer going according to plan, and there was nothing more that he hated than when his plans were foiled.  Now he would be unable to take down Jewlia and that meddlesome attendant in one move.  He clicked his finger nails on the hard surface of his desk, his mind coursing with possible counter moves.  As the words of Jewlia's message replayed in his mind, an idea began to formulate into a masterful plan.  Destroying one bird with a stone is better than destroying non at all.  He laughed slightly at his own cleverness and turned his com unit back on.  Dissecting the message and the other messages he had with Jewlia into segmented words, he began to re-piece them together.  Adding voice recordings his had from a meeting with General Gala, he soon had something that could suit his needs.  How smart he had been to place recording devices in this office when he took it over.  His smile widened at that thought.  How wonderfully useful technology can be when applied by the right mind.  


	3. The Nightmares Within

Chapter 3:  The Nightmares Within 

            The next few days passed by in a slow crawl as the day for the people of Ice to choose their next leader approached.  It seemed no one was yet ready to put the rule of the beloved Zera behind them.  To do so meant that they had to leave her memory in the past and move on with their lives.  Though they knew that they must move on, they were in no hurry to do so.  The Council Shard had continued his campaign for the throne by making daily speeches to the people about the hunt for Jewlia and her accomplices.  He promised that they would have those traitors to Ice captured before the coronation ceremony took place.  His only known competitor for the throne was the honored Drach'mar Nich Crystal, but she had yet to make a public appearance.  In fact, as the day came nearer, she found herself wanting to be alone with her thoughts.  She had committed herself to doing anything to keep Shard off of the throne, but if another candidate would step forward she would gladly back them.  In all truth, her desire for the throne was non-existent.  It was this lack of desire, however, that seemed to be fueling the people's support for her.  Crystal was not sure that she was ready to be the founder of a new dynasty.  Not for three-hundred and fifty-six years had the people been forced to vote in a new monarch.  Zera's hereditary line had been well established, but now it was gone forever.  

            Elsewhere in the cluster, things seemed to be moving just as slow.  The other Alliance leaders were preparing themselves for the worst.  If Shard was made ruler, everything was sure to change.  Fear of another silent decade between Ice and the rest of the planets was an all to real possibility.  It was no secret how Shard felt about the others,  and the others didn't exactly like him, either.  His rigid demeanor was enough to make the simplest of negotiations impossible.  The largest fear that hung on the minds of the other leaders, however, was the fact that this most unpredictable and power hungry of men could soon be in charge of the most powerful fleet in the Alliance.  Planet Ice's irreplaceable and valuable resource of water made things even more tense.  Now that the Beast planet was known to still exist and could teleport back into their cluster at any moment, the last thing they needed to deal with was another Resource War.  

            After making his daily speech, this time assuring the people that they were very close to finding the traitor, Council Shard sat quietly in his office for a moment.  He needed to gather himself for what was soon to come.  So much rested on the completion of his next move, and so much would be lost if he failed.  With a slow sigh, Shard committed himself to the plans he had made and pressed the button on his com unit.

"General Gala, could you come to my office please?  I believe we have found our saboteur."

***

            The Fire Lord Pyrus stood alone on the balcony of his palace, his eyes looking out over the flat and dusty surface of the Rock Battle Moon his people now called home.  Even after six years, he still hated it here and had not yet grown accustomed to its lifeless surface.  Tonight, as one of the frequent meteor showers that occurred over the moon began in sparks of red and white, Pyrus's eyes were not seeing the horizon that he had come to despise so much.  Instead, he stood with his eyes glazed over in a foggy haze somewhere between the waking world and the pulling gravity of dreams.  For three days now, he had gone with out sleep.  Every time he closed his eyes and tried to get the rest that his body yearned so much for, his mind would be taken over by thoughts of her.  His beautiful snow flake, now broken and gone.  He could do nothing to escape them but remain awake.  She would call out his name, pleading with him to help her, telling him that she was lost, alone, and afraid.  Her ghostly voice haunted him with her painful crying until he would wake up screaming.  

            After the first night one week ago, he had gone to see Zuma in her people's caverns below the surface of Planet Sand.  He was sure that it had been real.  Zera had felt so close.  Zuma, however, had sadly shaken her head and told him that her people had been able to feel nothing of Zera.  Even Zuma had stopped looking for signs that Zera was still alive.  Pyrus had left the cavern feeling more alone in the universe than he ever had, and for two days afterward the dreams did not come.  When they did return three nights ago, they were so full of fear and pain that Pyrus could not deal with them.  So he had chosen to remain awake for as long as possible.  At least when he was awake, he could think pleasantly about her.  It seemed he was unable to dream such things.  Even Zuma had no explanation for that.   

"My Lord?"  Blaze walked onto the balcony and brought Pyrus's drifting mind back to the world around him.  

"Yes, Blaze?"

"Femur called and wondered if he could come and see you.  I told him you were busy, but would get back to him."

"Thank you."  Pyrus was in no mood for company.  When Blaze did not leave, Pyrus turned to him.  "Was there something else?"

"If you will excuse my forwardness, but you look like shit." 

Pyrus smirked slightly.  "That bad?"

"No, worse."  Blaze gruffed out a small laugh.  "Just thought I'd be polite.  Still not sleeping?"

Pyrus sighed and ran a hand through his flaming hair.  "Not in three nights."

"Three nights!"  Blaze crossed his arms.  "You can't allow this to continue.  You can't allow her ghost to haunt you into insanity!"

"You think I want that?"  Pyrus raised his voice, the lack of sleep driving him on the edge of his irritability.  "What am I supposed to do?  Tell her to kindly leave me alone?"

"Yes."  Blaze sighed.  "It's the way of ghosts, my Lord.  They will haunt you only as long as you let them."  

"How can I tell her to leave me?  She seems so afraid."

"It's all in your mind.  Ghosts only exist there, in your dreams.  You must tell her memories to leave you in peace.  It is the only way you can continue on with your life, as I know the real Empress would have wanted."

"My heart still yearns for the ghosts to be real."  Pyrus turned away from him.  "I am afraid that if I finally let her go, I will be forever alone." 

Blaze sighed heavily and placed a firm hand on Pyrus's shoulder.  He still could not understand it, or even fully agree with it.  All he knew was that his lord had loved the Ice Empress, and now he was in pain because of her loss.  "It is the only way you will ever be able to dream fond memories of her, instead of these nightmares that haunt you.  In that way, she will always be close to your heart."  

Pyrus slowly nodded in defeat.  "You are as wise as you are hard headed." 

"Sometimes, my Lord.  Sometimes."  Blaze let go of Pyrus's shoulder and left the balcony.  

****

 Shard waited impatiently for the good General to arrive.  Drumming his fingers nervously on the desk in front of him, he opened a small drawer and brought out a laser pistol, making sure that another one was still in the drawer.  He left the drawer partway open and set the other pistol onto the table and eyed its gleaming surface. As the door opened, he looked up and cleared his throat.  "Do come in, General."

"Thank you."  General Gala stepped inside the room and the door closed behind him.  His eyes immediately fell to the pistol on the desk.  "You have found the weapon that was used to attack Princess Tekla?" 

"Indeed I have."  Shard slid the gun across the desk as Gala stepped closer to inspect it.  "I also know who used it."

"Who, and how?"  Gala picked up the weapon and inspected it.  It had indeed been fired, but other than that there was nothing to distinguish it from any other pistol in the palace.  All guardsman and those in the fleet carried one as a general issue side arm.  

"I have managed to decode a transmission between the conspirator and Jewlia.  It was very hard to find, and once I did find it, I was extremely surprised and disheartened."

"Then you know the person?"

"Not as well as you do."  Shard watched as Gala raised an eyebrow.  With a deep inhale, Shard turned on his video-unit and started the playback.  The first voice heard was unmistakably Jewlia, and the second voice heard had an unwanted familiarity.  Shard watched with a hidden pleasure as Gala began to make the connection.

            _"Well, this plan had better work." _

_            "Of course."_

_            "Fine then.  I'll take care of  Tekla and you make sure that the Alliance fleet _

_               is kept out of our way."_

_            "Do not worry, everything will be fine.  My father, General Gala, can be_

_              depended on to do his duty and lead the Alliance fleet after those Beast ships."_

Shard turned off the recording and stared at Gala.  A look of absolute horror and disbelief had come over the general's face.  He shook his head and backed away, still holding the pistol in his daze of shock.  "This is madness."  

"It is proof, I'm afraid.  Your daughter is a traitor."

"No.  I know my daughter, and I know that she would have rather died than betray our people!"

"But she didn't die, did she?  The Empress did!"  

"What proof do you have that this recording has not been falsified?"

"My word."  Shard narrowed his glare.  "That should be good enough."

"Well it is absolutely not!  I want this sent down to the technical lab immediately!  They will be able to tell us."

Shard sighed.  "I was hoping it wouldn't come down to this.  I had hoped that you would see the error of your daughter's ways and cooperate."

"What?"  Gala's face turned from shock to puzzlement.

"But it seems, noble general,"  Shard stood and took out the pistol from the drawer.  "that you leave me no choice."  

"Shard, what are you doing!"

"I am doing what must be done!"  Shard snarled.  "I am protecting the future of our world!  Sacrifices must be made!"  

Shard lifted the pistol suddenly and shot general Gala square in the chest.  Gala gasped for air as the high energy gun fire burned through his skin and into his heart.  His eyes opened wide as he stared at Shard.  He began to speak, but found no breath to do so.  Shard reached down and grabbed onto the pistol still clutched in Gala's hand.  Shard aimed it at himself and fired it.  He was knocked backwards by the blast to his left shoulder and braced against the table to keep standing.  Gala continued to attempt to speak, but instead a foaming gurgle died on his lips.  

"GAURDS!"  Shard screamed.  "Guards! Hurry!  General Gala has gone mad!" 

Gala tried to shake his head, to force his body to stop the nightmare that was occurring before his eyes.  The once strong general, however, was no match for the shadow of death as it clenched his heart.  As his eyes locked onto his betrayer, Gala could hear the Nortu winds calling his soul.  As Shard's lips fell into a small smirk, Gala could hold on no more, and the Nortu carried him away.

"Good by, noble general."  Shard sneered as he watched the cloud of death haze over Gala's eyes.  He cringed at the searing pain in his shoulder and yelled again.  Shooting himself had hurt more than he could have imagined, but he had done what he must do.  There was no turning back now.  "Guards!"   

The door slid open and a group of guards with Jaren in the lead rushed into the room.  Jaren looked from Shard to Gala.  "By Frore!  What happened?"  

"He attacked me, with that pistol in his hand."  Shard replied as he pointed.  "I was forced to defend myself.  I did not mean to kill him."

"Dead?"  Jaren knelt down to check, and a grim expression flooded his face.  "I don't understand."  

"Perhaps we had better ask his traitorous daughter!"  Shard spat.

"What?"  Jaren stood up and glared at Shard.  "There had better be a good explanation for all of this." 

"I discovered a transmission between Jewlia and her conspirator here on Ice.  When I informed the general that the conspirator was Crystal, he went mad with rage!"

Jaren shook his head and took on the shocked expression that Gala had had only moments before.  

"It is true, I'm afraid."  Shard forced concern into his voice.  "I know you had feelings for the girl, but the recording can not be denied!"  Shard played the recording and watched as Jaren's face went from shocked disbelief to an enraged glare.  "I'm so sorry, Jaren."

"That…bitch."  Jaren clenched his teeth.  "This whole time I have been supporting her in her move to the throne, and this whole time it had been she who killed the Empress!  That must have been her plan all along!"

"I believe so."  Shard nodded.  "What shall we do now?"

Jaren turned to the shocked group of soldiers behind him.  The rage of a broken and betrayed heart filled his soul and blinded him.  "We go and get her, and bring her to justice.  You two, take Gala's body to the great hall.  Council, after you have received medical attention, please make a palace wide announcement.  The people deserve to see the face of their betrayer."

"Of course."  Shard watched with pleasure as Jaren stormed out of the room with his legion of the Royal guard.  As Shard rubbed his burned shoulder, the two soldiers picked up Gala's body and carried it away.  Once the room was empty, and the door once again closed, Shard could not keep himself from laughing.

****

            Pyrus yawned deeply as he made his way into his bed chamber.  His eyes fell on his neglected bed, and he could feel his tired body yearning to lie down on it and sleep for days.  With a deep sigh he removed his cloak and armor, draping them across the back of a chair.  His feet stumbled haphazardly toward the bed as he removed his tunic and tossed it aside.  He could feel the white pendant bouncing against his chest as he walked.  Falling into the silken sheets of his bed, he curled himself within them, and without a moment's pause he feel deeply asleep.  And as it had been before, with sleep came the dreams.  

_He felt himself drifting among a sea of stars, a dark void looming in the distance before him.  He waited and knew what was to come.  From the void a frightened voice called out to him and he drew himself nearer to it. _

_"Pyrus?"  Zera's echoing voice filled the void.  "How long has it been?  I am so lost.  There is no time here.  Pyrus?  Are you there?"_

_"I am here, Zera."  Pyrus's mind responded in the dream.  _

_"I was so afraid when you didn't return.  Please, don't leave me again."_

_"I have to."_

_"But I need you to help me!  I'm so cold, Pyrus.  Everything hurts.  I don't understand what is going on!"  Her voice pleaded._

_"I can't help you Zera."_

_"Why?"_

_"Because you're dead."  Pyrus forced the words past his lips.  _

_"No, I am not!"  Zera's tone challenged.  "Pyrus, can't you hear me?  Cant you feel me?      How can I be dead if I am here with you?"_

_"You are a ghost, a memory, and you must let me go Zera."_

_"Please don't do this!  Help me please!  I am so alone!  It's so cold."_

_"Good by Zera."  Pyrus chocked on the tears forming in his eyes in the waking world._

_"No!  Pyrus, my love, please!  If you love me, you will not give up!  You must not give up!  You must find me! I am so frightened.  I will die without you!"_

_"You are dead!"  Pyrus yelled._

_"Don't you love me anymore?" Her question destroyed his heart._

_"Good by, Zera." _

_"Pyrus, no!"  Zera's voice screamed in an echo and the void disappeared into a flash of light._

Pyrus sat up strait with a choking breath.  His eyes darted about the room as his hand clutched the pendant around his neck.  Standing up, he slowly made his way over to his desk on shaky legs.  He had just done the unthinkable, and his heart hated him for it.  Lifting the pendant from around his neck, he opened it to look at the picture of Zera within it one last time.  Burning the image into his mind for eternity, he closed it and lowered it into an ornate stone box beside a few things that had belonged to his parents.  With a forced breath, he closed the box and locked it.  It was final.  His Empress was gone.  When he laid back down on his bed, sleep came with out struggle, and this time the ghosts left him in peace. 

****

            Deep within the bowels of the red Beast planet, Blokk stood over Zera's cold and still form.  He wanted so much to wake her and cause her pain.  They had tried everything, but could find no way to keep her mind secret from those interfering sand fleas.  Until they did, they could not wake her up with out risking her being found by Zuma and her strange kind.  The device that should have been working to block such telepathic transmissions had for some reason failed.  Some strong link was keeping the Ice Empress's mind out of their reach.  Blokk was quickly loosing what little patience he had to begin with it.

"Ha!"  Lamprey's voice laughed in triumph.  "The device is now working!"

"But how?"  Blokk turned around in surprise.

"I…am not sure, exactly."  Lamprey stared at the still figure of Zera.  "But it seems as if that link that we could not break has broken on its own."

"So we can wake her up now?"  

"Oh, we can do more than that now."  Lamprey sneered and began to laugh boisterously.  Blokk's maniacal laugh soon joined hers, and their laughter filled the halls of the Beast with a dark and sinister pleasure. 


	4. Exiled

Chapter 4: Exiled

            Basking in the fading afternoon sun, Crystal sat in the common room that joined her quarters with those of the Drach'mar warriors.  The six girls sat with her, discussing various topics, and finding ways of trying to fill the void that existed in their group.  Crystal still found it hard to keep her eyes from drifting to the empty chair that would have been occupied by Zera.  Her eyes drifted over the faces of the girls.  They were each around the same age as Zera, their eyes filled with that same spark of adventure and life.  That is why Zera had selected them in the first place.  They had trained hard to become like the Drach'mar before them, a noble line of female warriors that stretched back before the history of the Resource Wars.   In the end, even the most skilled among them had been unable to stop Zera from carrying out Glacier Winds.  None of them had imagined that Zera would go to such desperate measures, and none of them ever thought that they would be unable to protect her.  But they had, and now Zera's chair sat empty.

"Oh come off it!"  Ezra scoffed at the other girls.  She was the tallest among the girls, her hair pinned tightly to her head, giving her the false appearance of an uptight female whom you would expect to be surrounded by ancient texts down in the Archive room.  Her high intelligence, however, was anything but false.  She always had the look on her face like she knew something you didn't, and usually it was because she did.

"Well it's true, isn't it?"  Bren smirked at Ezra.  Bren was the complete opposite to Ezra in every way.  Short, full figured, and with eyes that watched you like a huntress watches her next meal.  What strength Ezra had in knowledge, Bren had in wit and cunning.  

"Of course not."  Ezra huffed.  "I am not seeing two men at once!  Who do you take me for?  Nia?"  

"Hey!"  Nia crossed her arms.  If the spirit of adventure had a physical form, it was Nia.   She would do anything to have a good time, and she did her best to make sure to get the rest of the girls involved in any type of trouble she had planned.  She moved a lock of her wild and free flowing frosted hair with a smirk.  "Besides, you say it like seeing two men at once is a bad thing."  

"Oh Gods, here we go again."  Tyana laughed boisterously.  The oldest of the group, except for Crystal, Tyana commonly found herself in the position of the mother-hen.  She had done her best to try and keep the girls out of trouble when Crystal wasn't around to do so, but she often found herself enjoying it to much to care.  Though her lips carried a large smile all the time, all the girls knew her hidden pain.  It had been Tyana who had chosen to follow Zera's order and protect those in the palace instead of protecting the Empress.  The other girls had objected, but Tyana assured them that Zera could look after herself, and that they must follow their orders.  Tyana had not yet found a way to forgive herself.  She raised an eyebrow at looked at Ezra.  "So who are they?"

"There is no 'they'!"  Ezra objected.

"The first one is named Javis."  Shasi chimed in.  

"The other one is named Kale."    Sasha, Shasi's twin sister, finished.  The twins looked at each other and giggled.  They were the youngest, and they acted more like one individual than two.  They would finish each other's sentences, and in battle they were like one fluid movement of thought and motion.  They were identical in every way, from the short bobbed style of their hair that framed their faces, to the gleaming teal green of their eyes, a trait extremely uncommon among those of Ice.  The only way to tell them apart was Sasha's left cheek which bore a long swooping scar.

"Those young flight jockeys?!"  Nia choked on her mineral water.  "Oh Ezra!  I thought I taught you to have better taste than that."

"I am not seeing either of them!"  Ezra shot the twins a glare.  She sighed and turned to Crystal.  "Save me from this!"

"What?"  Crystal blinked out of her thoughts suddenly.  

"Javis and Kale!"   Both of the twins giggled in one chord.

Crystal turned to Ezra with a raised eyebrow.  "You're seeing those two idiots?"

"No!"  Ezra fumed and threw her hands in the air, sending the other girls into a riot of laughter.   

"Open this door immediately!"  The loud voice and slamming knock on the door silenced the girl's laughter.  

"One moment, please."  Crystal rose to unlock the door, but before she could reach it the door's lock was blasted and the door swung open.  Jaren's angered face peered in from the hallway.   Crystal blinked.  "What is going on Jaren?  Is everything ok?"

"Far from it."  Jaren spat his words at her.  "Take her."

"What?"  Crystal's eyes widened as a group of Ice soldiers advanced toward her.  

"Hey! Get your claws off of her!"  Nia stood up and rushed toward the soldiers.

"Get back!"  Jaren commanded and the other soldiers drew their weapons.  The rest of the girls gasped and Nia was forced to stop her advancement. 

"What is going on?"  Crystal did not struggle as the soldiers shackled her ankles and wrists.  Instead, she kept her confused eyes locked on Jaren.

"I think you know."  Jaren growled and turned.  "Bring them as well."

"Like Hell you will!"  Tyana stepped forward.  "Not until you tell us what is going on, Jaren."

"Crystal has been charged with treason."  Jaren's words sent the girls protest into a hushed silence.  

"What?"  Crystal gasped.  Now, as the guards began to escort her down the hall, she began to but up resistance. "This is ludicrous!  Jaren, if this is some sort of joke, it has gone beyond the point of being amusing."

"I assure you, it is no joke."  Jaren replied.

"What proof have you?"  Ezra and the other girls glared at Jaren as they were pushed down the hallway.  Jaren turned his eyes away and did not respond.

"I demand to speak to my father!"  Crystal's heart raced.  

"Of course."  Jaren hissed as they walked into the Great Hall.  There was already an assemblage of court staff, and standing at the top of the throne stair case like a king was Shard.  The soldiers pushed the girls down to their knees at the bottom of the stairs as Jaren walked up them.  He motioned to the side and two soldiers brought forth Gala's body and lowed it to the stairs.  His voice became quiet and sullen.  "There he is.  Talk to him if you can." 

"Father!"  Crystal screamed and broke free of the two soldiers behind her.  She stumbled up the steps with her wrists and ankles in shackles, and she fell beside the lifeless body of 

her father.  

Shard watched with hidden amusement as Crystal franticly tried to find any sign of life from her father.  "Oh I assure you, my dear, he is _quite_ dead."

Crystal's throat was choked with bitter tears, and she could hear the girls behind her gasping in shock.  She leaned down and put her head on his chest with a painful sob.  "Why?"

"I am afraid, "  Shard replied.  "that it was unavoidable.  He went quite mad, you see, when I revealed to him to truth about his precious daughter, the truth about you.  He was simply heart broken to find out that his only remaining family was a traitor and the murderer of our beloved Empress!"  

The crowd descended into a whispering mob that grew louder with each moment that passed.  

"Crystal is no traitor!"  Bren yelled out in a wild fury.  She began to rise, but two soldiers hit her knees with shock staffs, forcing her back down to the ground with a painful yelp.

"Contain yourselves, ladies!"  Shard hissed.  "You have not been found guilty of anything, but do not try my patience!"

Crystal raised her head and looked at Shard.  She could care less about the pitifully unfounded accusations Shard made against her.  The deep seeded fire of vengeance crept into her soul.  Never one who liked to fight, the urge for revenge began to call her skills into action.  She would not rest until her father was avenged. "Who has done this to my father?" 

Shard turned his attention back to the attendant at his feet.  He sneered to hide a smirk of dark pride.   "I did." 

The other girls growled in anger as the soldiers fought to keep them restrained.  For a moment, it seemed as if Crystal had become frozen still.  Even her breathing seemed to stop.  With graceful stealth, Crystal's secondary arms unfolded from behind her hair to reveal a hidden pair of uncara, a round bladed dagger that formed a circle when the two were put together.  In a single, lightning speed movement, Crystal handed the uncara off to her primary hands, and she leapt from the ground in a deathly howl toward Shard.  The shock on Shards face joined the yelp that escaped his lips as Crystal descended down upon him with the raging fury of the Goddess Ku'itha in her eyes.  Ku'itha, the Ice Goddess of Strength and Vengeance,  could do nothing as Crystal's face suddenly took on a look of shock that matched Shards.  No one in the room made a sound as Crystal fell from her mid-air attack and dropped to her knees, the uncara landing at her sides with two loud clangs.  She slowly looked down at the burning injury left in her stomach by the gun blast.  Her sorrow ridden blue eyes drifted up to see Jaren pointing the gun at her, his face contorted in a heated anger and a painful regret.  She could do nothing as the shock to her body descended her mind into the shadows of the unconscious.  With a resounding echo of defeat, she fell backwards along the stairs, resting just inches from her father's lifeless and outstretched hand.  

"NO!"  The twins screamed with tears and broke the silence of the room.

"You see!"  Shard pointed at Crystal with a look of relief on his face.  "You see!  Mad! Just like her father!  This proves that she is a traitor!  Guards! Take her from my site."

"How could you!"  Bren Glared accusingly at Jaren.

"Oh Jaren, what have you done?"  Ezra lowered her eyes as the guards moved toward Crystal's unmoving form.

"She is innocent, you fool!"  Nia screamed.

"Silence!"  Shard commanded to the Drach'Mar.  

"What is to be done with her?"  Jaren couldn't take his eyes off of the Drach'Mar.  Their faith in Crystal's innocence grated a his soul, and the sneering look in Shard's eyes began to unnerve him.  

"We of Ice are not a murderous people."  Shard spoke to the crowd gathered.  "At least not most of us.  We are a people of compassion, even when dealing with those who have betrayed that compassion and our trust.  It is therefore the decision of this court that the guilty traitor Crystal, daughter of Gala,  be exiled to the Peak of Penance."

"Oh dear Gods."  Tyana breathed in a hushed whisper.  

"Even with her injury?"  Jaren tried to hide his displeasure with the sentence.  The Peak of Penance was at the top of the highest mountain in the Freeznor range.  The burning cold temperatures of the dry ice that consumed the mountain peak was too extreme of an Ice environment for even their race to handle.  Being exiled their was usually a death sentence, at that was when you were in perfect health.  

"The sentence is to be carried out immediately.  Take her away."  Shard narrowed his eyes and watched as the guards picked Crystal's body up.

"She is as good as _dead_ if you send her there like that!"  Nia yelled. 

"Her life is in the hands of the Fates now."  Shard replied calmly.  "It is our law."

"You can't do this!"  Bren began to stand again, but Ezra pulled her back down.  

"Not now, Bren."  Ezra whispered, but the look on her face told Bren what she really meant.  This was not over.  The Drach'Mar each exchanged glances and knew that they were all thinking the same thing.  They would see Shard fall for this, or they would die trying.  Now, however, was not the time or the place.  They would be unable to help Crystal if they shared her fate on that mountain peak.

"Very wise, Ezra."  Shard smiled inwardly.  "You and the other Drach'Mar are to be confined to your rooms until a new Drach'Mar Niche can be assigned to you.  Let us hope she does a better job training you than Crystal did."  

Nia had to bite her tongue in order to keep from responding.  Her anger melded into a hissing growl as the soldiers led them back to their room.  Each of the girls fought back bitter sobs as tears stung their cheeks.  They continued to hold their heads high in pride, knowing that this would only be the beginning.  They refused to show weakness.  They refused to bow to Shard.  They refused to give him that pleasure.  The twins looked up at Jaren with a spite that made him turn away.  Tyana was the only one of the girls who had the strength to look back and watch Crystal's body being carried toward the hanger bay.  Though the day had begun like any other, by the time the sun set their world had changed forever.  Tyana cast her eyes back to the girls in front of her as they walked to their rooms in a silent procession.  After being escorted inside the room, Tyana and the girls turned to face their true betrayer.  

Jaren stood alone in the doorway, eyeing each of the girls in turn.  He motioned for the rest of the soldiers to station themselves further down the hall before he spoke.  "Do not try anything foolish, or you will share her fate."

"Foolish?"  Bren started to breath heavily in a furious rage as she advanced toward Jaren.  The other girls we forced to restrain her.  "Foolish!?  Do not speak to us of foolish behavior.  What you have done is beyond the point of being foolish!"

"I followed the code of our law!"  Jaren slammed his fist into the palm of his other hand.  

Nia let go of Bren and began her own advancement toward Jaren.  "By helping that murderous bastard send Crystal off to her death?"  

"Watch your tongue, Nia."  Jaren glared.  "Crystal was a traitor and she deserves what the Fates hand her."

"Listen to yourself, Jaren."  Ezra spoke in a calm voice that pleaded with Jaren to listen to reason.   "Even you do not like Shard, and yet you support him in this ridiculous accusation, save nothing for letting him get away with murdering Gala.  Gala was a good man who was loyal to the court and its fleet, you know that." 

"And Crystal has been nothing but loyal."  The twins sniffled. 

Tyana stared at Jaren with growing anger.  "She has done nothing but try and do her best to serve this court.  She loved the Empress as a sister, and she would have rather died that bring her harm.  She didn't even want the crown until you talked her into it!  She would do anything to please you, and yet you cast her aside as soon as Shard fills your head with talk of betrayal.  Do you honestly believe she would do such a thing?"

"Shard has proof."  Jaren cast his eyes away.  "What I believe is irrelevant." 

"No it's not!"  Bren shook her head.  "Don't you get that?  Have you any idea what is really going on here?  Any idea at all?!" 

"She was in love with you, you prick!"  Nia yelled when Jaren gave no sign of responding to Bren.  That got Jaren's attention. 

"It is true."  Ezra's voice continued to remain calm. "Look, Jaren, I do not know what evidence Shard has presented you, but did you even stop to consider for a moment that Shard was the true traitor?  Does it not seem odd to you that Shard has managed to eliminate  any possible threat to his move for the throne with one act?"

"He has a recording of Crystal talking to Jewlia!"  Jaren countered. 

Tyana sighed.  "Did you bother to check the recording's authenticity?"

"But…but still, General Gala shot Shard!"  Jaren was quickly running out of excuses.  With the rage of his hurt heart subduing, his mind was finally given a chance to reevaluate all that had occurred. 

"Oh, did he now?"  Ezra raised an eyebrow.  "Then I suppose I was the only one to notice that Gala's pistol was still strapped into his side-belt?"  

Jaren began to take a few steps back.  "You are just trying to confuse the facts."

"No, Jaren."  Ezra continued.  "We are trying to clarify them for you."

"I will listen to no more of this!"  Jaren turned sharply, fighting hard to control his emotions.  Crystal had loved him.  The look in her eyes after he shot her was haunting him, and it replayed over and over in his mind with new meaning.  He had to get out of there.   

"If you will not listen to us, then find out for yourself, Jaren."  Tyana called out as Jaren because to exit the room in a quick haste.  "That's all we ask."

"Seek the truth."  Shasi and her sister still clung to each other in soft sobs of sorrow.

"Do not run from it."  Sasha finished. 

They watched the door close and lock shut, hoping that Jaren had gotten the message.  Bren looked to the rest of the group, their eyes filled with defiant strength masking a communal fear.   "What do we do now?"

"Now, we save Crystal from freezing to death on that mountain."  Nia strode over to the room's com panel and turned it on.  

Tyana raised an eyebrow as she and the other girls followed Nia to the com panel.  "What do you have in mind, Nia?"

"You'll see."  Nia smirked.  She took a few moments and typed out a message delaying the situation on planet Ice and the exact location of the Peak of Penance.  When she was done, she gave the message a look over, then stood away from the console  "Ezra, can you encode this message connection and make it look like a supply order originating from the cargo bay?"

"Easily."  Ezra began typing on the data pad.  "Just where am I supposed to send this _supply_ order?"  

Nia's smirk grew.  "Send it to Planet Bone, Office of the Ambassador Femur, and title it Request for Repayment of Item 4136.  He will understand it."

"Femur?"  The twins spoke and blinked in unison.  

"And just what favor does he owe you for?"  Bren put her hands on her hip.

Nia straitened her posture.  "A lady of the Court never reveals such details."

"Oh brother."  Tyana rolled her eyes.  

"Besides, "  Nia continued.  "Tibia and Emperor Sternum offered to help Crystal if ever she needed a favor.  I think this is a good time to remind Bone of that."

"Well girls,"  Tyana sighed.  "Right now it's all we've got, so let us pray that it works."

"If he gets the message, "  Shasi started.

"do you think he will make it in time?"  Sasha finished.

"That, I'm afraid, "  Ezra frowned and sent the message.  "really _is_ in the hands of the Fates.  May they be merciful this night."

****

            The north hanger bay on the palace complex of Planet Bone was consumed in its usual mass of confusion.  With the Beast Planet threat still fresh on everyone's mind, and the trade between planets starting to resume at its normal pace, the north hanger bay had turned into a chaotic conglomeration of military and supply ships.  It didn't help matters that almost all of these ships, most of which should have been decommissioned before the first War of the Beast, needed one repair job or another.  The Bone technician crew was being run thin, and with it so was it's leader's patience.

"Look, I don't care if you have to turn it upside down and backwards!"  Una placed her hands firmly on her hip as she stood in front a two technicians who were holding a power coupling.  "Just make it fit.  I know it's a d45, and the ship needs a d34, but we don't have much of a choice, ok."

"Yes Ma'am."  One of the technicians sighed and nodded to his companion.  They headed up a ramp and into the back compartment of a small attack ship.

"Getting pretty bad, isn't it?"  Marcus smirked as he walked up behind Una.  Besides being taller than most, Marcus stood out like a sore thumb because he was the only person from Ice in the entire hanger bay.  Marcus had been one of those born on the Prison Planet, and he felt no connection to his home planet.  His parents had fought and died for Sternum during the civil was on the Prison Planet.  Sternum became the major guiding force in his life after that, and he was more than happy to accept Sternum's request that he stay in the palace as a technician.  If its one thing he became good at on the Prison Planet besides firing a gun, it was fixing things with what was available.

"Tell me something I don't know."  Una huffed.  "I don't know how they expect us to keep going on like this!"

"Hey, we made due on the Prison planet with a lot less."  Marcus shrugged, then smiled. "Besides, if anyone can pull these hunks of junk together, you can."

"Hey, don't insult my ships!"  Tibia laughed as she walked up to the two.  "You get that third restrictor plate off of Red 5 yet?"

Marcus sighed heavily.  "No, I had to help Ulnae clean the engine intake on Blue 16 all morning.  Damn thing is clogged full of dust mites from that trade mission to Sand last week."

"Ick."  Una grimace.  "Glad its you and not me.  Those things give me hives." 

"You and me both."  Ulnae coughed as he walked past.  "Don't worry Sis, ill be sure to share some with you at home." 

"Wonderful."  Una glared at her brother's back as he walked away.  

Marcus pointed behind Tibia with a raised eyebrow.  "Short-stuff and Priscilla at 12 O'clock." 

"Hu?"  Tibia turned as Una started laughing loudly.  Femur and Pelvis were in a hobbling run toward the group.  Tibia forced down her own laughter as she gave Femur a smile.  "What's up, darlin'?" 

"We…need…to…"  Femur looked like he had run the entire length of the castle.  

"We need to go now!"  Pelvis finished.  

"Go where, exactly?"  Tibia raised an eyebrow.

"To planet Ice!"  Pelvis squealed as he hopped anxiously from side to side.  

"Why?  What has happened?"  Marcus became more interested in the conversation.

"Oh its dreadful!"  Pelvis looked like he was about to faint.

"General Gala has been murdered."  Femur finished with an annoyed look at Pelvis.

"What!" Tibia blinked.  

"That's not all."  Femur's eyes looked grim.  "Shard has accused Crystal of being a traitor, the one working with Jewlia."

"That's ludicrous."  Tibia huffed.  "That delicate thing?  A conspirator with Jewlia?" 

"She would never do anything like that!"  Pelvis whined.  

"Ya,"  Femur nodded.  "Sounds like Shard making a move for the throne if you ask me.  Look, I'd love to stand her all day and chat, but Crystal has be found guilty and sentenced to exile on the Peak of Penance.  We have to go now."

"The Peak of Penance?" Una tilted her head and looked at Marcus.  

"From what my parents told me, "  Marcus frowned.  "We'll be lucky to get there in time."

"In time for what?"  Una blinked.

"In time to save her life."  Marcus lowered his eyes.

"C'mon! Get your tails in gear!"  Tibia began walking up the lading ramp of her ship.

Femur looked over at Pelvis.  "You stay here and keep my brother busy till we get back." 

Pelvis frowned at that idea, but nodded.  "Be careful." 

"Ya,  thanks."  Femur lead the rest of them onto the ship.  "You realize we're gonna be breaking about ten planetary alliance charter rules by doing this with out Ice's authorization."

"Why honey, "  Tibia looked at Femur in mock surprise.  "Since when do you care?"

"I don't."  Femur shrugged and strapped himself into his seat.  "But Sternum might, and I know for sure Shard will."

"We'll just have to deal with that when it comes."  Tibia smiled as she flew the ship out of the hanger bay.   "Not going to let the poor gal freeze to death.  So, hang onto your tails, cuz it will probably be a bumpy ride!"

******

            Deep within the cavernous interior of the Ice Palace,  Tekla sat alone in a science lab, working diligently to finish the last of Voxx's repairs.  After a last spray of wielding sparks, Voxx let out a high pitched beep before hovering off of the table and resuming his usual position above the Princess's shoulder.

Tekla smiled.  "Good to have you back.  How are you feeling?"

"Repair sequence complete."  Voxx responded.  "All systems functioning normally."  

"Good."  Tekla sighed with relief.  The damage caused by Jewlia had been extensive. 

"Your Highness!"  Tal, the Ice technichian, rushed into the room with a less than pleasant look on his face and a deep fear in his eyes.

"Tal?"  Tekla turned at looked at him curiously.  "What is the matter?" 

"The unthinkable has happened."  Tal took a moment to catch his breath.  When he finally continued, it all came out in a hurried rush.  "Shard has gone mad! General Gala has been murdered by Shard, Crystal has been exiled to the Peak of Penance, the Drach'mar have been locked up, and now Shard is talking about assuming the throne!" 

Tekla blinked as her mind processed the new information.  "Did this just happen?"

"Yes. The whole palace is a mass of chaotic confusion!  The gossip is every where, and it is quickly leaking into the city!  People are torn and don't know what to do.  There is even talk of civil war!"

"Calm down, Tal."  Tekla tried to think of her next move.  "First we need to contact the rest of the Alliance, and then…"

"We cant!  Like I said, Shard has gone mad!  He has cut off communication frequencies, so we would have to get his permission first."

Now Tekla started to realize the true fear and urgency in Tal's voice.  "Why would he do such a thing?"

"He hasn't announced why yet, but…"  Tal cut off his words and shook his head mournfully. 

"But what?"  

"I think he means to break away from the Alliance."

"But that would be…"  Tekla swallowed hard as Tal brought his crystalline eyes up to hers.

"Madness."  Tal whispered. 

******

Madness was indeed in Shard's eyes as he surveyed the crowd that had gathered beneath the balcony of the Ice palace.  The balcony over looked the city, and just as Shard had wanted the rumors had spread quickly.  The crowd was growing in numbers as each moment passed.  Shard paced back and forth along the length of the balcony listening to the crowd in front of him and the talk from the soldiers behind him.   The palace and the city were both in a state of uncertain chaos.  Shard smiled at that.  From this chaos he would rebuild his people, and he would assume the throne.  He stopped suddenly in the middle of the balcony and raised his arms, waiting for the crowd's noise to subside.  He would play on their fears, he would feed their hunger for purpose, and in the end they would call him a hero.

"My fellow citizens of Ice!"  Shard called out in a booming voice unexpected for his age.  "We have come to a turning point in the roads of the Fates!  They have revealed the traitor Crystal, daughter of Gala, to us!"  He waited a moment longer for the sudden rise of murmurs to die again.  He watched the faces vigilantly in the light of the setting sun, part of his mind smiling at the belief that soon Crystal would be frozen on the Peak of Penance.  He cleared his throat and continued.  "But that is not all the Fates have revealed to us!"

Jaren quietly joined a group of fleet soldiers behind Shard that watched the scene on the balcony from a shadowy distance.  The look on their faces, most of whom had served under General Gala,  was unreadable.  "What is he up to?"

"I'm not entirely sure."  Captain Nordic replied.  He had served under Gala for many years, and he watched Shard's back with a steady gaze.  Any thoughts of revenge that he might have had were locked behind his stoic face.  He finally looked at Jaren.  "Aren't you standing with the wrong crowd, _boy_."

Many of the other soldiers turned their frosted glares toward Jaren.  He did indeed feel like a boy under their seasoned gaze, and his confidence faltered even more than it had under the interrogation by the Drach'mar.   "I…I am not sure anymore."

"Humph."  Captain Nordic turned his eyes back toward Shard.  "Then I think you had better watch your _master_ more closely, _boy,_ because I have the feeling you're going to have to make up your mind who's side your on _real_ quick."

Jaren turned his eyes back to Shard, but his mind was hardly on the announcement.  The revelation that Crystal had been in love with him was still jumbling his thoughts.  It had only called to the surface his denial that he had always known about her feelings toward him.  He had even begun to share them.  Jaren suddenly looked down at his hands.  He had begun to fall in love with her, and then he had shot her.  She was probably dead now, and he had killed her.  Shard's next words brought Jaren's attention back to reality, and his own eyes began to take on the look of Gala's soldiers.  

"It is with a sad heart that I must take up the crown, but in the troubled times ahead I know that I will be needed by you, the great people of Ice."  Shard continued with false concern.  "The Fates have revealed to me the true cause behind the beloved Empress Zera's death, and it did not start with Jewlia or Crystal!  It started with this Alliance!"

The crowd became a roar of mass confusion.  Some shouted agreement, calling the Alliance an act against the Gods, or breaking with the sacred tradition of the planet.  Others claimed that the Alliance had saved them from certain destruction.  The loudest voice of all that eventually over ruled the rest, however, belonged to Shard, and what he said next left everyone in stunned silence. 

"The Beast Planet would have never come here if it had not been for the meddling of an outsider!  We took her under our care, Honored Cryos followed her plan of a great Alliance, and now she sits in this palace with out remorse for the horrors she brought down on this system!  The Beast never would have come if it hadn't been for the Princess of Tekk, and it never would have returned if it was not set on revenge against her and the alliance _she_ created!  The traitor Crystal begged for us to keep the Alliance together at the funeral of beloved Empress Zera, saying that it had been Zera's dream of legacy.  It was not!"  Shard pounded his fist on the balcony railing, the silence in the crowd unbreakable.  

"Zera wanted only to honor her father's memory, but she revealed her true feelings during the Silent Years.  She wanted no part of that Alliance!  It was only when the Alliance forced themselves upon her kind heart did she give in, and only then did the Beast return and almost destroy our world!  Only then did the Beast return and take our beloved Empress away from us!  Only then was the true vile and destructive nature of the Alliance revealed!" 

The crowd stared at Shard with wide eyes and dropped jaws.  Shard watched with internal pleasure as some of those faces started to contort into sneers of anger, nods of agreement, and shouts of disgust.  Shard felt the crowd of people fall into place within his master plan.  He had them.  The city was his.  "Can you deny the truth in my words?!"

"No!"  The crowd bellowed in unison.

"Do you finally see the true nature of this so called Alliance?" 

"Yes!"  The crowed responded.  

"Then I call upon you to act!  To stand with me!"  Shard raised a triumphant fist toward the sky.  "As that traitor meets her Fate of death on the Peak of Penance, we must meet our Fate and be reborn as a whole planet once again, free from the Alliance and its path of destruction!"  

            The crowd erupted beneath him into cheers and yells, their fists raising to the sky.  Only a few of the crowd began to meander their way to the back, falling in between the shadows of the buildings and staring up at Shard with stares of heated anger.  Shard, triumphant in his victory over most of the people, didn't notice as Captain Nordic and his legion slipped out of the room.  Jaren, with his own group of the Royal Guard seeming to be fully supporting Shard's speech, backed away from the room and followed the Captain.  Once they were away from the gathering, the group stopped and turned to face their follower.  

"What do _you_ want?"  Lt. Valsh sneered and stepped forward.   

"I… I want to help."  Jaren stammered, more unsure of himself than he had ever been.

"We don't need the help of Shard's lap-dog."  Lorna, the only female soldier among the group, crossed her arms.  

"I'm no ones lap dog!"  Jaren clenched his fists defensively.

"Ok, how about pet worm instead?"  One of the other soldiers replied.

"Look, we don't have time for this!"  Captain Nordic finally stepped in.  He turned to his officers.  "Save your anger for Shard.  He's the one who shot the General, not Jaren."

"No, "  Lorna glared at Jaren over Nordic's shoulder.  "he just shot Crystal and allowed Shard to send her off to her death on that damn peak." 

"Shard has evidence against her, and I was just..."

"Just following orders."  Nordic finished for Jaren.  "That's the problem with you young soldiers.  To much following orders and not enough using your own head."  

"I'd like to see this so called evidence."  Lt. Valsh quipped.

"You and the Drach'mar both."  Jaren looked down at his feet.  "Look, maybe I've made a horrible mistake, but I wont know for sure until I can get a hold of that tape."

"Careful boy, that sounds like treason to me."  Captain Nordic raised an eyebrow, but had a small grin on his face.  "Look, if you want to help, you can start by keeping Shard busy for a few minutes."

"Ok, I can do that."  Jaren raised his eyes and tilted his head curiously.  "Why, exactly?"

"Because, "  Captain Nordic gave the signal for his legion to continue running down the hall toward the shaft elevator.  "we are going to get Princess Tekla out of here before Shard decides to exile her too!"

Jaren watched as Nordic and his team walked onto the lift.  "Good luck!"

"You too."  Nordic nodded.  "And watch your back, kid."  

Jaren watched as the Captain and his team descended down the main shaft to the levels below the palace.  He turned and began walking back toward the balcony where Shard had given his speech.  The speech that was about to change the history of their world once again.  As Jaren passed by people and looked at their faces, he realized that Captain Nordic was right; a civil war was in the works and soon sides would have to be chosen and lines would have to drawn.  Not knowing where those he saw stood and not quite sure of his own alliances, Jaren had never felt so alone.  He paused by an open window and looked out at the darkening sky as the sun set over the Freeznor Mountains, the Peak of Penance disappearing into a low cloud of mist.  It was then that his heart finally admitted to himself that he was in love with Crystal, making the guilt of what he had done threaten to drive him to madness.  The loneliness he felt could only be a small fraction of what Crystal was being forced to endure on that mountain,  and thanks to him she may not live through the night.  It was enough to bring tears into his eyes.  What he saw next caused him to smile.  As the darkness descended over the peak, he could see the blinking green lights of a Bone ship reflecting off the gathering mists.  Somehow, word had gotten out.  Shard had been right.  Crystal's life had been in the hands of the fates, and they had granted her life.  Jaren only hoped they had reached her in time.  His resolve to find out the truth grew firm and he turned sharply to go and stall Shard for the benefit of Captain Nordic and his crew.  Despite not yet having the so called evidence in his hands, Jaren's heart already knew the truth of Crystal's innocence.  He could only hope that it wasn't to late to save her life.

*****


	5. Honor of Bone

Chapter 5:  

Crystal could hear it.  A distant hum like a thousand whispering voices stressing to break over an angry howling wind.  It would grow louder as the wind let it through, only to remain a jumbled mixture of words.  Sometimes it would disappear or turn away and her heart would scream in agony at the abandonment.  As if hearing the scream, the voices would return to her, but still they were far in the distance.  She could also feel it, the numbing cold as it burned her skin and sank into her lungs.  It encompassed everything as it slowly swallowed her whole.  The bitter drifts lapping in an ocean of a white wasteland so frozen that it shone a blinding blue in the dying light of the day.  A brutally beautiful blue, if only she could see it.  Her eyes were trapped behind the heavy mask of their lids, the silver light within their irises threatening to go out forever.  She knew she was dying, and yet the thought of it brought her no sadness.  All had been lost, her dreams had been broken, and now she lie forgotten on the Peak of Penance waiting for the Nortu Winds to carry her away.  

"Over here!" Tibia called out after tripping over the covered mass in the snow.  She knelt down quickly to brush to drifting snow away, the bitter frost stinging her fingers.  Ignoring the frost bite, Tibia worked franticly to uncover the body of the unjustly accused, Crystal giving no sign of life to reward Tibia for her hard work.  She took out a heat blanket from her pack and wrapped it around Crystal's stiff form.  Drawing up Crystal's body, Tibia looked out across the blowing snow for the others.  She called out again, but had no way of telling if she was being heard.  The wind at the top of the peak howled in Tibia's ears, and her voice was horse from trying to yell over the noise.  Feeling more like an off-worlder that ever before with her green scaled flesh fighting to stay warm against the bitter white landscape, Tibia could only sit and wait for the others to stumble upon her as she had, by luck or fate, stumbled upon Crystal.

"Tibia?"  Marcus appeared out of the blizzard haze, followed closely by Una.  

"Here."  Tibia felt her breath being sucked away by the cold wind.  She knew she would succumb to hypothermia herself if they didn't get back to the ship soon.  Her body was tired from the exhausting task of trying to stay warm.  She struggled to push her voice out of her lungs again.  "I'm over here."

"I'll send up the flare."  Una turned and fired a shot in the air as Marcus knelt down beside Tibia and Crystal.  The flare exploded into a green brilliance that bathed the entire white mountain peak in light.   

"Is she still alive?"  Tibia's sense of touch was lost long ago, and if Crystal was breathing she wasn't doing so in a visible manner.  She hesitated as Marcus gathered Crystal into his arms, her own body reluctant to let the heating blanket go.  

"Barely."  Marcus moved the heating blanket from Crystal's body to do a more thorough check and gasped. Her thick blue crystalline blood had frozen solid against her skin in a trail from the hole in her stomach.  "She's been shot!"

"What?"  Una turned sharply around and looked.

"Where the hell is Femur with my ship!"  Tibia growled as she made an attempt to stand back up.  

"Father?"  Crystal's voice was nearly a whisper as her eyelids parted long enough for her to look at Marcus.  In the mental haze of her mind, she was sure that she had died and her father was there to greet her with the rest of the honored ancestors.   

Marcus frowned slightly.  "Shh.  Its alright."

"Father, I'm so sorry."  Crystal's stiff form began to force up small convulsing sobs.

Marcus looked at her a long moment, but it was Tibia who spoke next.

"Talk to her honey, try and keep her conscious.  It's the best thing we can do right now." 

Marcus looked at Tibia.  "But I…don't even know her."  As he looked back down at her, he wished that he did know her.  Despite the bitter cold, the frozen tears, and the blood stained rags of her clothes, she was beautiful.   

"So sorry…"  Crystal's delusional ramblings continued as her imagination kept her in the place beyond death.  

Marcus took in a deep breath, knowing that Una and Tibia were watching and waiting for him to keep her from falling into the realm of no return. "Sorry for what?"

Crystal halfway opened her eyes as overhead Femur finally arrived with the ship.  Its loud turbine engines stirred up the snow into cyclonic swirls as it lowered down enough to let down the hatch.  Crystal closed her eyes again and sighed.  She realized then that she wasn't dead, but was instead being rescued.  "Forgive me father." 

"For what?"  Marcus was enraptured to know as Tibia called out to him to start walking toward the ship.

Crystal did not open her eyes as her lips struggled to force out her confession.

"For wanting to die."  

 Marcus paused as he lifted her up.  She had wanted to die here on this mountain.  Had what happened been so horrible?  A call from Una brought his attention back to the ship and he stood up with Crystal in his arms and began walking through the harsh wind.  He trudged up the long loading ramp into the starkly contrasting warmth of the ship, allowing Tibia past to get to the helm.  He followed Una into an adjacent compartment and set Crystal down on a flat metallic table.  

"Well, "  Una looked Crystal over with a long sigh.  "Will she make it?"

"I am…uncertain."  Marcus spoke carefully.  The ship shifted slightly as it lifted from Ice's gravity.  His eyes remained on the still and cold body.  "Without the proper nanonite technology, it will be a long and hard recovery.  If…she survives the night."  

"We'll just have to hope for it then."  Una tried to smile, but failed.  "I've got to get back to the bridge.  Can you stay with her until we dock back at base?" 

"Yes…of course." 

"Good."  Una sighed as she walked out the door.  "And prepare yourself for the Emperor's wrath." 

"Understood."  Marcus frowned at that.  He really had no idea how Sternum would react to what they had just done.  In a way, he didn't really care either.  To him, she had been worth saving.  He smiled lightly at that as he picked up a few more heat blankets from a cabinet.  Then he frowned again when he realized how little he could do to help her.  Tonight's fight would be her own, between her body and her desire to stay alive.  Hoping that Fate was with her and not luck, he turned to the task of trying to warm Crystal's body back up to a reasonable temperature.  Another hard jolt rocked the small ship and Marcus rushed to secure Crystal to the table.  He turned and headed to the com unit on the wall as the ship continued to rock.   "I bit more stability back here would be greatly appreciated."  

"No can do, frosty."  Femur's voice replied back.  "Shard seems to have sent us some friends to escort us off this rock."

"Do you need help?"  Marcus looked back at Crystal.  He wasn't sure he could do anything more for her.

"Nah, you keep your tail back there and keep her in one piece and we'll deal with the escort."  Femur quipped.   He turned to Tibia and looked at her with a grin.  "Wont we, toots?"

"I aint one to shoot allies out of the sky,"  Tibia huffed.  "But I don't think I have much choice in the matter."   Tibia maneuvered the ship successfully out of Ice's atmosphere and headed toward the vast blackness of space.  "I just hope those boys know what's good for 'em and they stay close to home."  

"Looks like you're right."  Una replied as the ships broke off their attack.  She frowned as one of the ships suddenly broke out of formation and made a b-line for Tibia's ship.  "Well, except for this idiot."  

"Why aint he fire'n though?" Tibia raised an eyebrow and opened the com-line to the pursuing ship.  "Can I help you, darl'n or do you just plan to follow us all the way back to Bone?"

"Actually, we were hoping for a bit of both."  Tal's voice replied back as his face appeared on the com-screen.  "I have Princess Tekla with me, and we require safe passage out of Ice's domain."

"Oh."  Tibia blinked.  "Well ok then."

Tekla's face replaced Tal's on the screen.  "Shard has blamed me for the war with the Beast, and a small faction of troops thought it best if I were to secretly depart before Shard pursued the matter any further."  

"So there's a resistance on Ice already, is there?"  Femur laughed.  

Tekla nodded.  "I have a letter for the leaders of the Alliance from Captain  Nordic .  He seems to be the closest person to a leader that the resistance has at the moment.  He admitted that Shard seems to be gaining popularity among those of the city, but Captain Nordic  himself will have a strong following in the palace and in the army.  General Gala has become a martyr for their cause."  Tekla paused and frowned for a moment.  "What of Crystal?"

"We found her."  Tibia replied, but without the happiness Tekla had hoped for.  "But Marcus thinks it's a slim chance she'll make it through the night."

"Marcus?"  Tekla tilted her head. 

"He's from Ice…well...kina…"  Tibia sighed.  "It's a long story."

Tal cut in to the conversation "Well I would like to make my own assessment, if you don't mind.  I am a doctor."

"Great!"  Tibia seemed relieved.  "You wouldn't happen to of brought one of those nanonite chambers with ya?"  

"I am afraid not."  Tal frowned.  "We didn't have much time to gather supplies.  When we heard Shard was sending out ships to pursue you, we saw our chance to escape and had to hurry to take advantage of it.  I may be able to rig something up once we reach bone, however.  You say this Marcus is of Ice?"

Tibia nodded.  "Though this was his first trip there.  Born on the prison planet."

"Most interesting."  Tal replied.  "Can you put me through to him, please?"

"Sure thing, darlin."  Tibia rerouted the com-line into the room that was acting as a temporary medical bay.  "Hey Marcus?"

"Here."  Marcus walked back to the com-line.  "I take it from the lack of movement that we broke free of our pursuers?" 

"Yep, and we picked up two more refugees.  Princess Tekla and the man who assisted her escape, Tal.  Tal is a medical tech from Ice and wants to have a word with you."

Marcus sighed in relief.  "I hope he has some idea on what to do for Crystal.  Her breathing is getting worse." 

"I'll patch him through to you."  Tibia's face disappeared from the com, and after a few second of static Tal's face appeared.  

"Marcus, I presume."  Tal nodded.

"Yes."  Marcus nodded.  "Crystal's condition seems to be going from bad to worse, and my lack of knowledge isn't helping her." 

"Have you tried a nanonite infusion?" 

"A what?"  Marcus blinked quizzically.

"Nanonites."  Tal raised his brow.  "Surely you know what those are."

"Of course I know what they are, but I don't have any.  This is a Bone ship, not an Ice medical bay."

"Your parents never told…"  

"They died when I was very young so leave them out of this.  Just tell me how to help her."  Marcus wasn't impressed by Tal's formal tone, thinking that his views on the people of Ice being quite stuck up were pretty much right on target.

Tal sighed.  "I apologize.  I meant no disrespect.  Nanonites are not just a part of Ice's physiology, they are a part of ours as well.  They live symbiotically in our blood stream.  You wouldn't be breathing right now without them."  

"Oh."  Marcus blinked.  "I had no idea."  

"Normally, they aid us our body's healing capabilities and our ability to adjust to off-world climates."

"Then why aren't Crystal's working?"

Tal closed his eyes, slightly irritated by Marcus's continuing interruptions. "Its because the temperatures on the Peak were below their tolerance levels.  The lack of oxygen in the air there also slowed them down.  I would not be surprised if the majority of them have died.  This would normally be just a matter of waiting for the nanonites to replicate themselves, but with Crystal's body in a state of shock…"

"Look, sorry I asked.  Id love a medical lesson some other time, but right now I just want to know how I can help."  

"Very well."  Tal tried not to become cross with him.  He was basically an off-worlder, after all.  "You need to transfer some of the nanonites in your system to hers."

"How? We don't have a transfusion kit on board." 

"You are going to have to do an oral transfusion then."

Marcus took a step back.  "A what?"

Tal sighed heavily.  He couldn't imagine one of his own people have no clue about such things.  "An oral transfusion.  It is the quickest way to get them into her bloodstream.  Normally this would be a simple matter of expelling your nanonites into the wound, but you obviously have no idea how to do that." 

"Well, what do you suggest then?"

"Mouth to mouth transfer.  Once you make contact with her, just think about transferring the nanonites into her mouth and they will respond.  They will know what to do from there."  

"Oh."  Marcus blinked and turned to look at Crystal.  "Let me get this strait.  You want me to kiss her, and then spit nanonites into her mouth?"

Tal rolled his eyes.  "In crude terms, yes." 

Marcus shook his head.  "That's disgusting!"  

"It is going to save her life!"  Tal huffed.  "Now go on."

"Fine."  Marcus swallowed hard and walked over to Crystals pale figure.  Her breaths were so shallow that he had to strain to hear their raspy sound.  He bent over her and stopped to looked at her lifeless face.  It felt wrong.  He felt like he was perversely invading her privacy.  Knowing that Tal was watching wasn't helping matters.  With a shaky hand, Marcus glided his fingers along her cheek and under her chin to tilt her head up. As he leaned down to kiss her, her body began to violently convulse. He backed away suddenly and looked at Tal for help.

"Hurry, you fool!"  Tal screamed.  "She's going in to shock.  The nanonites in her are dying, and without them her body is shutting down!  You must…"

"Alright!"  Marcus growled out of anger and fear.  He pushed all hesitation aside and grabbed Crystal's shoulders.  Her body was so strong that he had to fight to keep his grip on her.  Her eyelids flashed open to reveal the silver sheen of her irises before rolling back into their sockets to display the deathly whites of her eyes.  He could feel her body die in his hands.

"Marcus!"  Tal screamed again at Marcus's hesitation.

"Please…"   Marcus whispered a prayer to the spirits he had never spoken to before.  He shut his eyes tightly and drew her body up to his.  Pressing his lips hard against hers, he forced her mouth to open with a sickly feeling in his stomach.  It still felt wrong,  but as he pushed the though of the nanonites into his mind, the feeling began to disappear.   It was the strangest sensation he had ever felt.  For a fraction of a second, he felt connected to her in a way he never thought was possible.  He could hear her mind, see her thoughts, and feel the nanonites dying inside of her.  It made him want to cry and pull away from her, but the second passed and he felt last trails of his own nanonites seeping from his mouth and into hers.  A small hum in his mind told him to let go of her, and he complied.  It was then that he understood.  He gently lowered her form back to the table and looked at her with a remarkable new insight.  He had gone all these years with out knowing, with out feeling, and without understanding the connection to the strange creatures that lived with in him.    

"Remarkable, isn't it?"  Tal smiled.  He had seen the same look from Marcus on the faces of children that he had helped connect with their nanonites for the first time.  

Marcus stepped back with heavy breaths, his gaze still locked on Crystal.  "I…I never realized."   He watched in amazement as  Crystal's breath returned to normal and the gaping hole in her stomach stopped bleeding.  He finally tore his eyes away from her to look up at Tal.  "Will she be ok now?"

"It is still hard to say."  Tal frowned.  "She is strong, so I give her a better chance than I would most.  In all honesty, her life is in the hands of your nanonites now."

The door slid open and Una stepped in.  She could sense the tension in the air and looked between Marcus and the com-screen.  "Tibia just wanted to let you know that we're going to be landing in about two minutes, and that Sternum is already waiting for us in the hanger." 

Marcus sighed.  "Wonderful."  

"I will see you when we land."  Tal shut off the com line. 

"He seems…pleasant."  Una smirked.

"Typical Ice, from what I've heard."  Marcus shrugged and turned his eyes back to Crystal.  "I think he saved her life, though."    

Una smiled.  "Well that's good to hear.  Wonder if he could save our hides from Sternum.   We may need a good doctor when he's done with us!"  

Marcus laughed.  "You're probably right."  

"You know him better than most, Marcus."  Una crossed her arms.  "How do you think he's going to react to the whole mess?"  

Marcus thought back through his memories of growing up in Sternum's resistance movement on the Prison Planet.  "If it is one thing he hates more than Jewlia, it is pain caused by her hands.  It is obvious that Shard and Jewlia were working together on this, not Crystal and the Beast.  Crystal has suffered greatly at their hands.  She has lost her home, her father, and almost her life."

"She also lost her best friend." 

"Zera, you mean?" 

Una nodded.  "From what I hear those two were close as sisters.  Tibia said she took the loss pretty damn hard.  Shard took Zera from her, and now he has taken her father from her.  I wouldn't be surprised if she wakes up with the hunger of revenge in her gut." 

Marcus thought on that for a moment.  "I just hope she wakes up."

Una raised an eyebrow with a small smirk.  "Grown a little found of  her, have you?"

"No…I…I mean, perhaps…"  Marcus rolled his eyes at Una, knowing he had walked right into that one.  He felt the ship stabilize as it landed in the Bone Palace hanger bay.  He sighed, glad for a change in subject.  "Well, we had better get this over with." 

"Fun."  Una frowned and walked of the room.  

Marcus wrapped Crystal up in another blanket and drew her into his arms.  Perhaps seeing her would help Sternum understand what was at stake.  He carried her out of the small room and along the corridors of the ship.  As he walked down the loading ramp, the crowd that had noisily gathered to hear Sternum vent his rage grew deathly silent.  He nodded as Tal and Princess Tekla joined their group.  Marcus walked to the front of the group and stopped behind Tibia who stood in front of Sternum.  The Bone Emperor's eyes were a red rage.  

"Explain yourself."  Sternum crossed his arms and glared down at Tibia.  

"I don't imagine there is much to explain, hun."  Tibia kept her voice calm.  "We were asked for our help and so we helped."

"Things on Ice are falling apart, Sternum."  Tekla's voice broke in as she stepped forward.  "Shard has assumed the throne, he has gone mad, and he speaks of breaking from the Alliance."  

"What?"  Sternum blinked and looked back at Tibia.  "This is true?" 

"See for yourself."  Marcus stepped forward and displayed Crystal's broken and battered body in his arms.  

Sternum looked at Crystal for a moment in silence before speaking. "What happened to her?" 

"Shard happened."  Tal growled slightly.   "He has slain General Gala, locked the Drach'mar away, blamed Princess Tekla for the War of the Beast, and sentenced Crystal to death for _his_ crimes against the people of Ice."  

"We had to help her, my Lord."  Marcus's eyes pleaded with Sternum to understand. 

Sternum took in a deep breath as he thought.  "Even at the cost of a possible war with Ice?"  

"I believe that is inevitable."  Tekla replied and handed Sternum the letter from Captain Nordic.  

Sternum glanced over the letter, a dark frown etching its way onto his face.  He closed his eyes and shook his head.  Another war, on top of the one they were already fighting.  He was so sick of fighting.  He opened his eyes to look back at Marcus.  The young man of Ice who always seemed out of place had his eyes mournfully downcast to Crystal's face.  He sighed and nodded to himself and placed a hand on Marcus's shoulder.  Marcus tuned his eyes back to his Emperor.  Sternum nodded.  "It was the right thing to do."

"Thank you, my Lord."  Marcus bowed his head respectfully.  

"Alright brother,"  Sternum turned to Femur who had been cowering behind Tibia.  "Alert the other Alliance leaders.  I want them here within the hour.  We have much to discuss." 

"You got it."  Femur only half bowed before heading off to the com-room.  "Pelvis!"

"Coming!"  Pelvis appeared out of the crowd and rushed after Femur.  

"Marcus, take Crystal to the medical bay with…Tal, isn't it?"  Sternum looked at the Ice medic he remembered from the time they visited Tekla.  

"Yes, Emperor."  Tal seemed surprised that Sternum had remembered his name.  

Sternum turned back to Marcus.  "Help Tal get her stabilized, then I want you back in the hanger to help Una get the repairs to these ships back under way.  I have a feeling we are going to need them soon." 

"Yes, my Lord."  Marcus bowed his head respectfully and clutched Crystal's body closer to his.  He headed off to the medical bay and Tal followed close behind. 

"Una.."  Sternum turned to the tall Bone female. 

Una gave him a small smirk.  "I know, get my tail in gear and get your ships fixed." 

"If you don't mind."  He laughed slightly as she gave a small salute and turned.   

Una placed her hands firmly on her hips and looked at the crowd in the hanger.  "What in the hell are you all still standing around here for?  You heard the Emperor!  Get going, c'mon, go.  Larynx,  start on Red-4, Torin you've got Blue-12, Ulnae your with me, and the rest of you get back to what you were doing!"   

Tibia gave a boisterous laugh as the crowd quickly dispersed to follow Una's orders.  "That girl sure does know how to get those boys to work." 

"Indeed."  Sternum smirked and turned back to Tibia.  "I will need you in the meeting."

"You got it, hun."  Tibia nodded.  "Just give me a sec to look after my ship."  

Sternum turned to Tekla as Tibia turned and walked back up her ship's loading ramp.  "You are welcome to stay in the palace."

"Thank you, Emperor.  Your kindness is appreciated."  

Sternum motioned for her to follow him as he walked toward the meeting hall.  "Tell me, do you think Shard will truly start a war with the other Alliance planets, even though the threat of the Beast has returned?"  

"I am uncertain if he wishes war, but I know that he wishes to break away from the Alliance.  Without the resources that the Alliance provides, I fear that war is inevitable."  

"I thought that we had gotten over the foolishness of the Resource Wars."  Sternum sighed. 

"Shard is mad."  Tekla stated bluntly.  

Sternum stopped and turned to her.  "And that makes him all the more dangerous. Do you think the people will follow him into battle?" 

Tekla thought silently for a moment as they resumed their walk down the long corridor.  "Under normal circumstances, I could safely say that the people of Ice are not so easily lead onto the wrong path, but they have suffered so much uncertainty in the past few months that I believe they are simply looking for a path, not just the right one.  They are lost, and Shard is playing on that very well."

Sternum nodded in agreement.  "But there is a resistance.  Do you think it stands a chance?"

"Yes, with our help, I believe it does."  

Femur rounded the corner with Pelvis close behind.  "Hey you two.  The other leaders are on their way, and whoa-ho are they ever in a bad mood about this!" 

"I expected as much."  Sternum shrugged slightly as they walked into the meeting hall.   

Femur walked past the hall entrance. "I'm gonna go check on the patient. Save me a seat."  He turned down another hallway and walked along the dimly lit corridor, do his best to remember which way to go.  As he rounded another bend, Marcus nearly ran right over him.

"Oh, sorry Femur."  Marcus took a step back and looked down.  

"S'ok kid."  Femur shrugged it off.  "How is she?" 

"Better.  Tal seems to think she'll make a full recovery.  We just have to wait until she wakes up on her own."

"Any idea on when that'll be?" 

Marcus frowned "Unfortunately not." 

"I'm sure it'll be soon."  Femur grinned.  "That gal's not just one to give up and die." 

"Of course."  Marcus wasn't so sure on that fact.  Crystal had wanted to die on that mountain, but perhaps he would have too if it had been him.  He shrugged it off, trying to push thoughts of her out of his mind.  "Are the other leaders coming?"

"With guns blaze'n"  Femur laughed.  "They aren't to happy that Shard has elected himself as king." 

"I would imagine not."   Marcus hadn't even met the man, and already he did hated him.   This Shard seemed to cause nothing but pain and destruction in his path to glory.  Perhaps the Princes of Tekk was right, and Shard was indeed mad.  He turned back to Femur, remembering he still had duties to attend to, despite the thoughts of the first visit to his home-world swimming in his head.  "Well, I should get back to the hanger."

"Ya, Ulnae probably needs to be saved from Una's wrath already."  Femur quipped as he watched Marcus walk down the hall.

"No doubt about that."  Marcus waved behind him as he continued to walk out the south gate, taking the shortcut across the south bridge to the west hanger.  The dark sky outside and the humidity of the air reminded him how different the Peak of Penance had been.  Bitter, cold, lifeless.  He wondered if all of Ice was that barren.  How could such an inhospitable environment produce something so beautiful?  He stopped in his steps as Crystal came back into his mind.  She enraptured him, and he didn't know why.  Continuing on his walk across the long and narrow bridge, he figured that it must be because she is of Ice, and the first Ice female he had seen in a very long time.  It was foolish, he thought, to think of such things.  A green-sparked ignition of the swamp gas that hovered over the bog beneath the bridge caught his eyes.  He found himself smiling.  Sometime being a fool wasn't such a bad thing. 

"You going to stand there all night and look at the light show,"  Una's voice called out across the bridge from the large open gate of the hanger.  "or do you plan on giving me a hand."

Marcus turned with a small laugh and extended his two secondary arms from between his shoulder blades.  "Four hands enough for you, my lady?"  

"Very funny, frost-butt."  Una smirked.  "Get your tail in here and put those hands to use then."  

"Aye aye, captain."  Marcus saluted.  He walked toward the hanger and folded his secondary arms back behind between his shoulder blades.  He smirked at the usual organized chaos of the hanger.  Everyone appeared to be running in all directions, but they knew their orders well.  Una was there, of course, to remind them if they forgot. 

"Well,"  Ulnae walked past lugging a large turbine casing on his back.  "Some one seems to be in a good mood."  

"Hmm?"  Marcus realized he was still wearing the dreamy smile from the bridge. "Oh, well I…"

"Hey, I'm not complaining."  Ulnae whispered.  "Would do the hanger some good if you could pass some of that on to my sister…"

"Ulnae!"  Una's commanding voice caused Ulnae to jump slightly and he had to rebalance the casing on his back.  "That was supposed to be at Red-10 five minutes ago."  

"I got lost."  Ulnae smirked at his sister's dark glare and continued on his journey through the crowd to Red-10.  

Una sighed heavily as she walked up to Marcus.  "I swear I'm adopted."  

"You don't have to be so hard on him, you know."  Marcus gave a sideways glance.  

"Ya, I know."  Una shook her head.  "I'm sorry, Marcus.  I'm just a little stressed.  I want to get this fleet up and running for the Emporer…"

"Oh, trying to impress Sternum now, are we?"  Marcus raised an eyebrow with a smirk. 

Una cast him a daring glare.  "And just what is that supposed to mean?"  

"Oh nothing…"  Marcus had to hold back a laugh.

Tibia's voice cut in as she appeared beside them.  "Except maybe that you seem to be casting a few glances his way." 

"I am not!"  Una frowned.  "That is ridiculous."  

"Uh-hu."  Marcus nodded.  "Of course it is."  

"Keep telling yourself that, hun."  Tibia smirked.

Una threw up her arms and walked away in a huff.  "You two are a pain in my tail, you know that?"  

 Marcus snickered and looked at Tibia.  "She's got it bad."  

"You don't know the half of it, darl'n."  Tibia sighed in a small smile.  "I'd better get myself to that meeting."  

"See you later then, and good luck."  Marcus gave a small wave.

"Ya, you too."  Tibia laughed at the chaos of the west hanger.  "You may need it more than me."  She turned and walked down the north corridor in the direction of the meeting hall.  She quickened her pace as she recognized a squat figure in front of her.  "Hey, darl'n." 

"Heya toots!"  Femur grinned up at Tibia.  "Hanger still in a mess?"

"Of course."  Tibia laughed.  "But I think Una will have it sorted out in no time.  You on your way to the meeting?" 

"Yes, ma'am."  Femur held out his hand.  "Care for an escort." 

"Why, such the gentleman."  Tibia smirked and accepted the hand.  As they passed by a window, Tibia pointed out toward the east hanger.  "Looks like the leaders are arriving.  That's a Fire Cruiser there."  

"Ya, "  Femur nodded as he watched it land in the out-door east hanger, followed by a small attack ship from Rock.  "Looks like Jade talked them out of bringing the Ca'rn."

"Hell, can you blame her?  The meeting is in ten minutes, not ten hours."  Tibia laughed at the thought of that slow and overly large flag ship.  

Femur laughed and pulled lightly on Tibia's hand.  "C'mon toots.  They can't start the meeting without us!."     


	6. Prelude to War

Chapter 6: Prelude to War

Fegan, a young Ice pilot stood nervously in the office of the consul who was now crowned king.  Fegan's eyes were cast sideways as his lips fumbled to explain what had happened, Shard's frozen glare chilling him to the core.  He shuffled his feet uneasily and jumped when Shard slammed his fist against the granite table. 

Shard growled in disgust.  "So you are telling me that Crystal, the murderer of our beloved Empress, was taken off of the Peak of Penance by a Bone cruiser?"

"Y..y..yes, my Lord."  Fegan swallowed hard as Shard slowly raised his colorless glare to him. 

"And you let them get away!"  Shard spat as he spoke in anger.  The young fool shuddered and cringed at his tone, and Shard had to fight to keep from wrapping his fingers around the boy's neck and squeezing until his anger subsided. 

"We…we did not think it was …wise…"  Fegan began.

"Choose your words carefully."  Shard warned.

Fegan jumbled for words.  "We just thought…we shouldn't fire on an Alliance vessel.  Its in the peace agreement, and…"

Shard slammed his fist against the table again, silencing the boy.  "Obviously, Bone has taken it upon themselves to rewrite that agreement, wouldn't you say?  Wouldn't you say that coming here, without my permission, and stealing that girl…that criminal from us and saving her from her punishment is breaking such an agreement of peace?"

"I…I.."

"Well, speak up!"  Shard's thin layer of  patience was breaking apart.

"Yes, my Lord."  Fegan spilled out the only words he could think of to please the ears of the new king. 

Shard eyed him for a moment longer before turning his back on the man and gazing out the window of his office that overlooked the city in the valley below.  "I am glad we are in agreement.  Now, what to do…what to do.  The people deserve their justice, and now that right has been stolen from them.  Who shall repay the people for this outrage, this theft of their rights, the breaking of our laws?  Perhaps we should find a replacement for Crystal to put on that mountain."  Shard turned and eyed the young man again.  "Perhaps the fool who let Crystal get away?"

"Your Highness, I…"  Fegan began, then swallowed hard.  He took in a deep breath and then quickly knelt.  "I accept any punishment that you see fit, my Lord." 

Shard smiled at the young soldier bowing beneath him.  He had no intention of throwing this child onto the Peak of Penance, that would be political suicide. It had simply been a test, and Shard was happy to see its result.  His followers, his loyal subjects, his foolish flock would do anything he asked.  "Lt. Fegan, you are herby charged with the crime…"  he paused as Fegan gave a noticeable cringe in expectation of the worst.  Shard, however, knew that he must wear the mask of compassion to get them to follow him in the war soon to come, no mater how much he did indeed want to strangle the young fool.  "of being too trusting and compassionate in an uncertain time when friends are becoming our enemies.  Your punishment is to inform the rest of the fleet of how you were deceived, and to prepare them for an inevitable battle that is to come with those traitors on Bone."

Fegan looked up in shock and relief.  He had been handed a deadly knife by the Fates and now his new King was telling him to use the knife against others instead of himself.  His mind hung on the half truths, only seeing the side that set him free of his folly.  "I will do as you wish, my Lord." 

"That's a good lad."  Shard forced a warm smile to his lips.  "Go on now.  I need to have a word with Emperor Sternum about the acts of these mercenaries I am certain he will gladly turn over to us.  It would be foolish to start a fight over the life of one criminal girl, don't you think?"

"Yes, my Lord, it would be."  Fegan nodded and believed his own words.  He turned stood up slowly and began walking out of the office. 

"Oh, and Lieutenant, "  Shard's voice stopped Fegan in mid-stride.  "do not fail me again." 

Fegan understood the warning in Shard's voice clearly.  "I wont, my Lord." 

"Good."  Shard watched the boy go in thoughtful silence.  It was obvious that child wasn't the traitor he was looking for, just a fool following the orders of that ridiculous peace agreement.  Shard turned to look out his window again, his hand stroking the small iced beard on his chin.  If not the one commanding the small group of fighter ships, then perhaps the man controlling them on the ground?  Shard scoffed at that.  Captain Nordic was many things, including rough and rock headed, but he was no traitor.  It wasn't in his blood.  He was a soldier who had been bred to be loyal to the crown.  Shard sighed.  But would he be loyal to the person wearing the crown in such times of uncertainty?  He had left the announcement ceremony rather early, and…

"My King?" 

Shard turned around with a raised eyebrow.  Well, isn't that interesting.  "Ah, Captain Nordic.  Just the man I need to speak to.  Your advice on a matter would be greatly appreciated."

"I am honored that you find my advice worthy, your highness."  Captain Nordic rose from his half bow, the deep etched lines of age and battle on his face doing their best to soften under the gaze of the usurper king.  "However, my Lord, I come bearing news that is most unsettling."

"Oh?"  Shard's mind continue to evaluate to what extent he could trust the man before him.

"Princess Tekla has disappeared." 

Shard fought to keep the angry scream growing in his throat to a croaked hiss. "What?"

Nordic was enjoying every minute of this.  His mother always wanted him to be an actor instead of a soldier.  Perhaps she had been on to something.  "After you mentioned her traitorous actions in your speech, my best soldiers and I went to go and find her to detain her for you because we were certain she would try and leave once your words gossiped their way to her.  But, when we reached the medical lab, she was already gone."

"How…how could she just…leave…" Shard was fighting the screams at every word.

"We believe someone else has betrayed you, my King, and helped her escape." 

Shard's eyes became glaring slits of a viper ready to strike.  "Who?"

"The Chief Medical Officer, Tal."  Nordic hoped Tal could look after himself.  It had been his crazy idea to use himself as a scapegoat, after all.  Nordic had to smile at his bravery.  No smile came to Nordic's lips, however, under the gaze of the snake in front of him. 

Shard inwardly blanched.  His mind would have never thought of that pompous technician as being capable of such deceit and treachery.  Perhaps that is was made the man dangerous.  Shard hated himself for not seeing it.  "What brought you to such a conclusion?"

The pieces were in play, no turning back now.  "He too is missing, my King, and it was his access codes that were used to take the ship from our hanger.  It appears they left just after Lt. Fegan's squadron, so they must have used them to cover their escape."

"Yes."  Shard nodded slightly.  "Fegan mentioned something about an extra ship appearing on his radar and then disappearing.  He thought it was simple inference from an ice sheet reflection."

"It seems that it was not, my King." 

"Indeed."  Shard thought in silence for a few moments, his mind working the pieces of the puzzle into place and trying to determine what was still missing to complete the picture of the night's events.  "One point that does not add up, however, is how Bone got word of Crystal's banishment."

Captain Nordic's insides twisted.  He hadn't though of that.  "Perhaps Princess Tekla or Tal told them?"

"No, I think not."  Shard stroked his beard thoughtfully.  "The time frame doesn't add up.  Tal was at Crystal's sentencing, yes, but he stayed afterwards for a few minutes to go over something with Regent Vorence, and we all know how long winded the Regent of Resources can be.   The message would have had to been sent before I saw Tal leave the Great Hall." 

"Princess Tekla, then?"

"No, my good Captain, that is quite impossible. She wouldn't of found out about the proceedings in time.  I gave strict orders than no off-worlders were to know.  It was an Ice matter, and Ice's private business."

Nordic drew in a shallow breath.  He was running out of people to suggest that wouldn't draw eyes where they weren't wanted.  "Forgive me, my Lord, but I am unable to think of any others who would betray our people in such a way." 

"That is why _I_ am King."  Shard stopped stroking his beard and looked a the Captain. "I can think of not just one, but six others."

The number immediately troubled Nordic.  His rebel forces had only started on a plan to get them out of the palace.  "The Drach'Mar?" 

"The Drach'Mar."  Shard almost smiled.  "Thank you Captain, that is all."

"But, perhaps, I could help in ascertaining their part in this?"  Nordic desperately didn't want to leave until he knew what Shard was planning for them.

"Your desire to help is most appreciated, Captain, but no."  Shard still wasn't sure about the man.  "I have someone else to take care of this matter."

"Yes, of course, my King."  Nordic bowed at the waist again and turned to leave, a troubled frown appearing on his face as he left the room.  He wondered just who Shard was planning on using, and better yet how he and his rebels could get to that person first.  With a set jaw, he headed down the corridor with a long stride, his squadron falling in line behind him.  They knew from the expression on his face not to say a word until they were well away from Shard's office.  Nordic took his legion around a corner and out onto a balcony facing the west wall of the city.  The soldiers waited patiently as Nordic paced a few times in thought.  

Lorna sighed.  "I'm sorry ,Captain, but you're making me dizzy." 

Nordic stopped in mid-stride and looked up at her with a frosted glare.  It turned to a small smile has he reminded himself where his anger should be aimed, and it wasn't Lorna.  "Sorry.  I've just had some most unsettling news."

"Shard didn't buy the bit about the escape?"  Lt. Valsh asked as he leaned back on the railing. 

"Oh, no, he lapped that up just fine.  Damn fool."  Nordic harrumphed. 

"Then…"  Lorna watched as Nordic became still again.   He was bad for thinking instead of talking.  "what _is_ the problem?"

"The Drach'Mar."  Nordic stated grimly.  "Shard has figured out that they were the ones to inform Bone of what was going on.  He seems to have a taste for blood again, and the Drach'Mar are next on his list." 

"Oh, of course."  Lorna growled.  "Why not get them out of the way?  That would completely clear out any challenge to the throne.  I bet he even has a recording of them conspiring with Emperor Sternum,  Blokk, and Jewlia all at the same time!" 

Corbius smirked lightly.  "Yes, quite handy how he just happens to have these recordings laying about."

"Indeed."  Nordic rubbed his chin.  "Jaren had the right idea.  We need to get that original tape Shard had of Crystal.  It will help convince the people of the truth."

"How are we going to manage that?"  Lorna huffed.  "I bet old frost butt has that tape hidden in his underwear." 

Lt. Valsh shuddered.  "Oh, gee, thanks Lor.  Just the image I wanted in my head." 

"No problem."  Lorna gave a sideways smirk.  Something behind Corbius caught her attention.  "Hey, there's the kid now."

Captain Nordic looked up to see Jaren walking through the large gallery that lead to the balcony with a grim look on his face.  "Jaren?" 

Jaren stopped and looked in the direction on the balcony.  He could barely make out the figures standing in the darkness of the night sky.  When he realized who it was, he looked around the empty hall a few times before heading over.  "Greetings, Captain."

Lorna looked over the young soldier.  "Why the grim face, kid?" 

Jaren sighed heavily.  "Let's just say I have been assigned a task most disturbing." 

"So,"  Captain Nordic continued to rub his chin.  "you're the one Shard is getting to do his dirty work with the Drach'Mar."

"Y..yes."  Jaren blinked a few times.  "He wants me to interrogate them in order to find out who sent the message to Bone." 

"Perfect."  Nordic almost smiled. 

"I do not follow…"  Jaren raised an eyebrow in confusion. 

"You _do_ have a lot to learn."  Valsh gave a small grunt of a laugh. 

Lorna liked the grin that was growing on her captain's face.  "So, what's the plan?"

Nordic looked around at his soldiers, and the newest member of his legion, Jaren.  "I think I may have a way to get a hold of that tape and get the Drach'Mar out of here before that vicious insect has any clue about who is on what side of this war he wants so badly."

..............

            Shard had watched with little interest as that young pompous ice soldier Jaren had left his office to do his dirty work.  Drumming his fingers lightly on his desk he turned his chair to face the communication console.  The Drach'Mar problem was being dealt with, so now he had to turn his attention to the problem of Bone.  He turned on the screen and brought up the system's connection log.  It dialed in to static at first, Bone's horribly out-dated equipment the cause, Shard had no doubt.  Soon it brought on the face of a Bone female sitting in full armor at a large desk.  Shard had to force a smile on to his face, finding Bone females to be the most repulsive of all the races.  "This is King Shard of Ice.  I must speak with Emperor Sternum immediately." 

The female looked up from sharpening the clawed nails on her left hand, none to impressed by Shard's tone.  "The Emperor is occupied at the moment, but if you would like to leave a message, I will be…"

"I am not going to leave a message!"  Shard glared.  "I want to speak to him, now!"

The Bone female bit her tongue, but did not suppress the sneer forming on her lips.  "Yes, of course…_your highness_,"  She hissed.  "I will inform him of you urgency.  Please hold."

"Hold?!  I most certainly will not h…"  Shard snarled as the woman cut his sentence off by placing him on hold.   Repulsive.  Certainly repulsive creatures, and horribly rude.  Having no other choice for the moment, Shard leaned back in his chair and resumed drumming his fingers against the top of his desk.

..............

            Emperor Sternum stood at the edge of the table, his arms crossed behind his back  and his eyes surveying the other leaders.  It had taken no force to get them all to assemble in such a short time.  He looked to his brother who sat at the other end next to Tibia.  Femur returned his steady gaze, and it was then that Sternum realized how much things had changed between them.  He also knew how much he would be in need of a brother in the days sure to come.  His eyes traveled to Jade and Graveheart who waited quietly for Sternum to begin.  Jade would certainly side with Bone in this matter, even if she would not side with Sternum.  Shrugging off that thought, he looked to Zuma and her two _Maji_, those that kept her connected to the collective mind at all times.  This problem had warranted the rare event of Zuma leaving her people.  They had been distant since Zera's passing, and Sternum could not imagine feeling a sadness as great as that shared by a collective mind.  Unless, perhaps, that sadness existed in the heart of a certain young King of Fire.   Pyrus did not meet Sternum's gaze.  Sternum could tell Pyrus was seeing only one thing; how he would repay Shard for Zera's death.  Tekla sat to Pyrus's left, leaving the group almost complete.  Ice was the only planet left out of this meeting.  A meeting set at deciding it's fate.

 Fate.

Sternum would have normally laughed at such an idea.  Fate had certainly not been his friend in life.  As Tal walked into the room, Sternum swallowed any doubts of fate.  It had saved that girl's life.  Crystal's life.  At least he hoped it had.  He addressed Tal as the man of Ice sat down across from Tekla and Pyrus.  "How is she?"

Tal took a moment to look around the faces of the leaders.  He did not feel he belonged in such a meeting. He was just a simple technician.  "She is stable, for now."

Pyrus looked up out of his thoughts.  "How long until she recovers?" 

"That is hard to judge, my Lord."  Tal sighed.  "It is out of my hands.  I have done all we can do here.  Her _Nideth_…her Fate…is in the hands of  Marcus now."

"Marcus?"  Sternum raised an eyebrow.

"Well, his nanonites at least."  Tal corrected himself.  "She would have died before their ship landed if had not been for him.  Scared the poor lad to death.  He has no concept of our ways." 

"That is my fault."  Sternum looked back up, now leaning on the table in front of him.  "I never encouraged him to learn." 

"It is lucky he was with you, though."  Tal looked to Tibia. 

"That boy usually is lucky."  Tibia smirked. 

"So…"  Femur eyed his brother again.  "Now that we've gone an' broken the charter rules with Ice…"

"What do we do?"  He finished his brother's sentence with a small sight.  "What do we do now,"  Sternum looked around the group again and crossed his arms behind his back.  "could decide a great many things.  According to the letter from Captain Nordic that you have all had a chance to read, it seems Shard…"  Sternum stopped and sneered slightly.  "_King Shard_…is looking to start a fight."

Jade scoffed. "Well if he wants to start a fight so bad, then why don't we just give him one."  

"We have to be careful though."  Graveheart, ever Jade's calmer half, looked at her.  "Do we really want to start a war with Ice right now?"

"Not with Ice, just Shard."  Jade responded. 

"I think that right now, it is impossible to accomplish such a thing."  Tekla looked along the table.  "Many, if not most, of the people of Ice see Shard as their leader now."

"Yes."  Tal agreed.  "They will follow him if he commands them into battle.  Shard has begun a campaign of blaming the Alliance for the cluster's problems."

Pyrus glared and the space between Tal and Zuma .  "So, he just wants to start another Resource War while the Beast could return at any moment?  How is that going to solve any problems?" 

"Simply put, my Lord,"  Tal could hear the hate for Shard in Pyrus's voice.  "Shard is insane."

Zuma spoke next and immediately gained the room's attention.  "He sees things from only one view.  He has a great thirst for power and authority.  We have seen what future lies in his mind.  He will not stop until the Alliance has fallen, either bowing before him or to the claws of the Beast."

Graveheart frowned.  "But why, Zuma?  What makes him want to destroy everything?"

Zuma did not speak for a few moments.  "What makes the Beast destroy as it does?  What makes you want to see the Alliance survive?  What makes a heart feel the way it does?  We do not know these things.  They simply are." 

"Then he must be stopped."  Jade clenched her fist.  "We just need to remove him from the throne before the Beast shows up again."

"But,"  Tibia raised an eyebrow as she thought.  "if he was dealing with the Beast before, to get Zera…"  Tibia grimaced after she spoke without thinking.  "..to deal with some of the things in his way, then how can we be sure he wont simply call on them again?"

"And why is the Beast working with him in the first place?"  Pelvis questioned from the corner her was standing in.  "I mean, what could he have offered them?"

"Us."  Pyrus looked up to the group. 

Graveheart thought on that for a moment.  "But what makes Shard think that after the Beast is done with us, that its not going to go after Ice?"

"Fate."  Sternum had his back to the group, his word barely audible. 

"What?"  Femur eyed his brother curiously.

Sternum turned to the group.  "If what Zuma said is true, then Shard believes he is doing what he is destined to do.  He can not see anything but that path now.  He probably believes that we and the Beast will destroy each other, saving him the trouble."

"He _is_ mad."  Femur swallowed. 

"Which is why he must be stopped." Sternum continued.  "Before he has a chance to get the Beast back into the cluster."

"Agreed."  Jade, just as Sternum had surmised, was the first to join.  "I hereby commit the forces of Rock to stopping Shard and preserving the Alliance." 

"We will aid in what ever way we can."  Zuma was next to join. 

Pyrus noticed the eyes turned his way.  With a small smirk on his lips, he looked at the rest of the group.  "Do you even have to ask?" 

"Just makin' sure, kid."  Femur grinned. 

"Good." Sternum eyed the group in satisfaction. 

Graveheart was the only one to offer an objection.  "We just need to make sure we keep the number of Ice casualties to a minimum."

"Agreed."  Tibia nodded.  "It aint their fault they got a crazy fool for a leader."

"We will do what we can."  Sternum had to agree, although he didn't think it would be a possible hope to have in the battles that were sure to come.  There would be casualties.  There were always casualties. 

"Emperor Sternum."  A female voice on the communicator cut into the meeting.  "Shard is on hold and wants to speak with you." 

"One moment."  Sternum turned the communicator on hold and turned to the group.  "How shall we handle this?"

"I say tell him to pack up or watch his tale,"  Femur grunted a short laugh.

Pyrus looked at Sternum with a larger smirk.  "I have a better idea.  Shard likes to play political games, right?  So, why don't we start one of our own.  I say we keep him…friendly…for now.  At least until we can establish some sort of communication with the resistance on Ice.  If we play our pieces right, we may be able to take his throne out from under him before he realizes what's going on." 

Sternum eyed the young king respectfully.  He had certainly grown up.  He had such a great desire to make Shard pay for Zera's death, and yet he was being clever  and patient.  Sternum looked at the others who seemed to be in some agreement.  "Very well.  I will go speak with him.  I suggest you all go and begin informing your forces about what is going on." 

"Very well."  Jade stood up.  "We'll be in touch." 

"Good luck."  Graveheart offered Sternum a nod and then turned to follow Jade out. 

"Thanks."  Sternum watched as the others left the room silently.  He sighed heavily and turned the communication unit back on. "Alright, patch Shard through."  He hated this part of being Emperor.  Pretending to be nice to someone when you would rather be shoving your fist down their throat.  As Shard's face appeared on the screen, he forced the growl of hate back down his throat.  "Ah, Shard, what can I do for you?" 

"You can hand over those criminals to my authority!"

Sternum was not impressed by Shard's bluntness.  Did the man take him for a fool?  "Criminals?  What criminals would those be?" 

Shard eyed Sternum with a bit of a malicious glare.  "A Bone cruiser just came to my planet and helped the murderer of Empress Zera escape!"

Sternum blinked in mock surprise.  "Are you sure it was a Bone cruiser?  None of my officers would do such a thing with out my authority."

"Of course it was a Bone cruiser!"  Shard scoffed.  "I hope you aren't thinking me the fool, Sternum.  This had better been without your knowledge, or…"

"Do not think me a fool, either, Shard."  Sternum cut the man off with a dark glare.  "I know nothing of what you are talking about."  He leaned back from the screen and took on the air of nobility again.  "But I can assure you I will look into the matter." 

"Yes, well…"  Shard swallowed his pride slightly and decided to be more diplomatic, and even slightly polite.  "I trust you will inform me of any findings?"

"Of course."  Sternum had had enough of this.  "Good night to you, then."  And he shut off the communicator, leaving Shard with his mouth open.   "We will see who is the fool."   Sternum walked out of the meeting hall and headed toward the main hanger to see how repairs were coming and to talk with Una.  If she was anything like how he remembered her father, she would be a vital asset in the upcoming battles.  He watched Marcus approach, wiping greased hands with a rag.  "How are things going in there?"

Marcus gave a small sigh.  "Could be better.  The Tul is going to need a complete transmission and injector refit.  Una told me to go and get some rest.  She's put me on afternoon shift to try an keep things going." 

Sternum nodded at the good planning, then smirked slightly when he realized what direction Marcus was heading in.  "Aren't your quarters back that way?" 

"Oh…yes…"  Marcus cleared his throat.  "Just thought I'd see her…I mean Tal… him...ask him… if he needs any help" 

Sternum had to suppress a laugh.  "It's alright, Marcus.  She is the first Ice female you've seen in a while."

Marcus sighed.  "Yes, she is."

Sternum watched as Marcus seemed to trail off into a world all his own.  "I'm sorry about that."

"Hmm?" 

"I should have encouraged you to learn more about your people after your parents died."

"Bah."  Marcus waved it off.  "I'm happy here, on Bone.  You know that.  Besides, its not like you had any obligation.  I more or less just tagged along and learned what I could.  I was grateful just for that."

"You earned your keep."  Sternum stated proudly, remembering what seemed like such a long time ago.  A whole different world.   "You still do." 

Marcus gave a small smirk.  "Thanks."

Sternum nodded and returned the smirk.  "Well, go on then."

"Yes, my Lord."   Marcus gave a small bow of the head with a large grin on his face before heading off down the corridor.  He walked into the medical bay to find Tal hunched over a desk with his head in his hands.  The man was obviously tired, and probably worried and unsure of his future.  Marcus looked over to Crystal.  She would be too, when she woke up.  Her whole world had just been turned upside down.  He quietly made his way over to her still form on the medical table, not wanting to disturb Tal from what was probably a much needed rest.  He looked at her for what seemed a small eternity before a noise behind him caught his attention. 

"Marcus?"  Tal said in a groggy voice, wiping sleep from his eyes with his secondary arms.   

"Sorry, I didn't want to wake you."   Marcus said as he walked away from Crystal.

Tal gave a small smile.  "It's alright."  He gave a small laugh.  "I'm really getting to old for this adventurous life-style." 

"Bah.  You're not that old."  Marcus leaned on a nearby stool.  "Besides, think about all the fun you would be missing!" 

Tal shook his head in another laugh at the youth's attitude.  "I admire your spirit, but I hardly did it for fun.  I did it for a friend." 

"Tekla, you mean?" 

"Yes."  Tal nodded. 

            On the other side of the room, Crystal's eyes opened into tiny slits, the laughter and conversation of the males was a garbed mix of echoes.  She was no longer cold, or numb, or drowning.  Her eyes could barely make out the shapes in front of her.  She was disoriented, and in an incredible amount of pain. 

"What is she like?"  Marcus was curious about the princess of the long dead world. 

Tal shrugged slightly.  "Tekla is very…studious.  She has a great deal invested into the fight with the Beast." 

            Tal.  Crystal's mind recognized that voice.  The other one was unfamiliar, but it sounded Icean.  She must be in an Ice medical lab.  But why?  Why was she here and not on that mountain?  A throbbing pain shot up from her stomach, but she clenched her teeth to keep silent.  Perhaps Shard had merely sent her to the Peak of Penance as a show, and now she was being imprisoned for another reason.  Her mind fogged over again.  Something wasn't right.  It smelt different.  And what about the Bone ship.  She tightly closed her eyes as she tried to remember.  Had the Bone ship been merely a dream? 

"Well, yes, I would imagine so."  Marcus nodded.  "So how do you think that discussion with Shard went?"

"Well, I hope."  Tal sighed, hoping Emperor Sternum had been able to keep his temper.

            Crystal clenched her teeth at the mentioning of that man's name.  She had to get out of here.  She had to find him.  She had to kill him.  Her fists clenched, and she could feel the Drach'Mar enhanced nanonites coursing through her system, feeding her fury.  The Drach'Mar.  She had to save her sisters.  With a furious howl, she leapt up from the medical table, grabbing a long and sharp surgical knife from a nearby tray.

"Oh my dear Gods."  Tal gasped and stood up. 

Crystal waved the knife in a warning at the two Ice males.  She took up a defensive pose and glared at them.  The nanonites in her system were responding to the fury of the Drach'Mar within her, telling her brain to ignore the pain and her muscles to prepare to fight.  Her eyes set on the male she didn't recognize first.  He seemed in shock at her sudden rising from the almost dead.

"No sudden movements."  Tal hissed at Marcus.  "She could kill you in a mere second.   Now, Crystal…just wait a moment and…"

Crystal snarled in anger, her grip on the knife tightening.  She could not wait.  "Zut'chi carneth-mar Tal.  Vormir!"

"What is she saying?"  Marcus gave a sideways glance at Tal, realizing this wasn't the best time to ask for a translation of Icean. 

"Crystal, please."  Tal lifted his hands up slowly.  "I can't let you go, you see…"

"Vormir!"  Crystal growled again and began to move forward, slicing the knife at the air in warning.   "Vormireth mir Drach'Mar neth!"

"You can't get to the other Drach'Mar, Crystal,"  Tal knew her memories flooding back was going to be painful for her.   "You are no longer on Ice."  To Tal's relief, that seemed to have grabbed her attention.  Her hold on the knife faltered slightly as her arm lost some of its strength.  She darted her eyes about the room in confusion.  "Don't you remember what happened?  The trial?  The peak?  The Bone ship?"

"The ship."  Crystal formed the words slowly, the knife in her hand becoming heavier.  As her anger subsided, so to did the fury of the nanonites.  Her eyes looked along the green walls of the room, the smell becoming recognizable.  Bone.  "The ship."  She repeated in slower breaths.  Her eyes suddenly locked onto Marcus as she brought her empty hand up to her lips.  "You."

Marcus lowered his eyes in shame.  She obviously remembered the kiss.  "I…I'm sorry."

"Saved my life."  Crystal continued to stare at him as he raised his eyes again to hers.  "My life."  She repeated and looked into the distance.  Her other hand dropped the knife and it fell to the floor with a large clang.  The now freed hand went to her stomach, to the injury now bandaged.  A small choked cry broke through her resistance.  "Jaren." 

Tal sighed grimly and nodded.  "Yes.  Jaren was the one who shot you, the blasted fool."  He could tell her strength was leaving her, the nanonites were becoming exhausted.  He made his way over to her and she looked at him with a shake of the head.

"Please no."  She pleaded as her hand searched her neck frantically for the family pendant.  "Please, say it was a dream, Tal.  Say it was a dream!"

"I…I wish I could."  Tal's eyes were ready to brim with tears at her distraught site.  He pulled something from his pocket and held it out to her.  It was her family pendant, once white with the life connection to her father, now black because he was dead.  He couldn't look at her as she slowly picked the pendant up out of his hand and looked at it.  "I am truly sorry about your father, Crystal." 

"No."  Crystal's mind was edging on madness as she backed away from them.  She had lost everything.  She was alone on a strange world.  She was alone.  "No…no!  NO NO NO!"  She screamed as her knees buckled from underneath her. 

Tal caught her just in time as the nanonites finally gave out, and her sadness took over.  She continued to meekly scream between sobs and fight his grip on her with what little energy she had left.  Tal remained steadfast and held her tightly until she stopped protesting.  He stroked her hair in a fatherly manner, patiently waiting for her cries to quiet and for fatigue to reclaim her to sleep.  He kept telling her that things would be alright, knowing in his heart that things would never truly be alright for her again. 


	7. Where did AvA Go?

Where did AvA-181 go?

Hello everyone! It has been quite a few years since I updated any of my Shadow Raiders or ReBoot fanfics or added anything new.

I have been through a whirlwind of changes in my life, including moving to another country, getting married and becoming a published Science Fiction author.

The ReBoot and Shadow Raiders fandom universe will always hold a special place in my heart because it helped to inspire me and lead me down the path to creating my own universe for my book series. I currently have one book in the series published on Amazon, a free short story on my website and the next book is in progress, due to be published in March of 2013.

To learn more about my current publications, you can visit my website: cekilgore . com

I also would love to hear from you through google+, facebook or twitter. There are links to my accounts on my website. I would love to hear what you all have been up too for the past few years.

Cheers!

AvA-181 ( C.E. Kilgore )


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